A letter from Jerome (384)

Translated letter:

1. When in the third hour of the day we had begun to read the 72nd psalm, the beginning of the third book, and we were compelled to teach the part of the title at the end of the second book, the part that extends to the beginning of the third book — that "the hymns of David, son of Jesse, end," is the end of the previous book, and "psalm Asaph" the beginning of the following — and we had reached that place in which the just man says: "I was saying, if I had spoken this way, I would have been untrue to the generation of your children," which is not so expressed in the Latin manuscripts, suddenly it was announced to us that the most holy Lea had left her body. And I saw you become pale, so that truly there are few if any souls who do not become sad when the shell of the vessel is broken and you grieved not because you were uncertain of the future, but that you had not given her the service of sad death. And then as we were in the midst of talking, we learned that her remains had already been brought to Ostia. 2. You will ask, why repeat this to me? I will answer with the words of the apostle: much in every way. First, that it should be received with joy by all, that she has already received the crown of security, having trampled the devil; second, that her life will be described briefly; third, that we shall show the consul designate was drawn down from his world into Tartarus [hell]. Truly, who could raise up our Lea with worthy praise? She was so completely converted to the lord that she became the head of the monastery, the mother of virgins; after the softness of cloths, she afflicted her members with sack cloth; she spent her nights in prayer and taught her fellows more by example than by word. She was so humble and subject that she who had once been a lady/mistress of many seemed a handmaid of man, except she was more a handmaid of Christ when she did not seem a mistress of men. Careless of dress, crude in food, her head/hair neglected, she did everything to avoid display, not wanting to receive her reward in this world. 3. Now therefore she enjoys eternal beatitude for her short labor, she is received in the choirs of angels, cherished in Abraham's bosom, and like the poor Lazarus earlier, she sees herself asked by the rich in purple and the consul no longer marked with the palm but doomed, for a drop from her little finger. O what a change! he who a few days before was at the height of worldly honors who, as if he had triumphed over subject enemies, ascended the Capitolium, whom the Roman people received with applause and foot-stamping, at whose burial the whole city was moved, is now desolate, naked, not in a milky-way/starry palace of heaven, as his unhappy wife imagined, but in filthy darkness. But she, whom the secrets of a cell protected, who seemed poor and thin, whose life seemed madness, she follows Christ and says, whatever we have heard we now see in the city of our god, and the rest. 4. That is why I admonish, and weeping and groaning I give witness that while we travel the road of this world, we should not wear two tunics, a double faith, we should not be weighed down by the hides of shoes, that is dead works, not let the bag of wealth weigh us down to earth, not seek the aid of the staff, that is worldly power, not want to have both Christ and the world, but let eternal things precede the brief and waning, and when we die daily — I speak according to the body — not think ourselves immortal in other ways so we may be immortal/eternal.

Original letter:

1. Cum hora ferme tertia hodiernae diei septuagesimum secundum psalmum, id est tertii libri principium, legere coepissemus et docere cogeremur tituli ipsius partem ad finem secundi libri, partem ad principium tertii libri pertinere — quod scilicet "defecerunt hymni Dauid, filii Iesse," finis esset prioris, "psalmus uero Asaph" principium sequentis — et usque ad eum locum peruenissemus, in quo iustus loquitur: "dicebam: si narrauero sic, ecce generationem filiorum tuorum praeuaricatus sum," quod in Latinis codicibus non ita habemus expressum, repente nobis nuntiatum est sanctissimam Leam exisse de corpore. ibique ita te palluisse conspexi, ut uere aut pauca aut nulla sit anima, quae fracto uase testaceo non tristis erumpat. et tu quidem, non quod futuri incerta esses, dolebas, sed quo triste funeri obsequium non dedisses. denique in mediis fabulis rursum didicimus reliquias eius iam Ostia fuisse delatas. 2. Quaeras, quo pertineat ista replicatio? respondebo tibi uerbia apostoli: multum per omnem modum. primum, quod uniuersorum gaudiis prosequenda sit, quae calcato diabolo coronam iam securitatis accepit; secundo, ut eius uita breuiter explicetur; tertio, ut designatum consulem de suis saeculis detrahentes esse doceamus in tartaro. equidem conuersationem Leae nostrae quis possit digno eleuare praeconio? ita eam totam ad dominum fuisse conuersam, ut monasterii princeps, mater uirginum fieret; post mollitiem uestium sacco membra triuisse; orationibus duxisse noctes et comites suas plus exemplo docuisse quam uerbis. humilitatis tantae tamque subiectae, ut quondam domina plurimorum ancilla hominis putaretur, nisi quod eo Christi magis esse ancilla, dum domina hominum non putatur. inculta uestis, uilis cibus, neglectum caput, ita tamen, ut, cum omnia faceret, ostentationem fugeret singulorum, ne reciperet in praesenti saeculo mercedem suam. 3. Nunc igitur pro breui labore aeterna beatitudine fruitur: excipitur angelorum choris, Abrahae sinibus confouetur et cum paupere quondam Lazaro diuitem purpuratum et non palmatum consulem, sed sacratum, stillam digiti minoris cernit inquirere. o rerum quanta mutatio! ille, quem ante paucos dies dignitatum omnium culmina praecedebant, qui, quasi de subiectis hostibus triumpharet, Capitolinas ascendit arces, quem plausu quodam et tripudio populus Romanus excepit, ad cuius interitum urbs uniuersa commota est, nunc desolatus est, nudus, non in lacteo caeli palatio, ut uxor conmentitur infelix, sed in sordentibus tenebris continetur. haec uero, quam unius cubiculi secreta uallabant, quae pauper uidebatur et tenuis, cuius uita putabatur amentia, Christum sequitur et dicit: quaecumque audiuimus, et uidimus in ciuitate dei nostri et reliqua. 4. Quapropter moneo et flens gemensque contestor, ut, dum huius mundi uiam currimus, non duabus tunicis, id est duplici uestiamur fide, non calciamentorum pellibus, mortuis uidelicet operibus, praegrauemur, non diuitiarum nos pera ad terram premat, non uirgae, id est potentiae saecularis, quaeratur auxilium, non pariter et Christum habere uelimus et saeculum, sed pro breuibus et caducis aeterna succedant et, cum cotidie — secundum corpus loquor — praemoriamur, in ceteris non nos perpetuos aestimemus, ut possimus esse perpetui.

Historical context:

Jerome sends Marcella the life of the recently deceased Lea, a consecrated widow and close friend who had had her own disciples. The consul designate mentioned in the second paragraph is Praetextus, a pagan, who died at the same time as Leah, and serves as a contrast to her holy life.

Printed source:

Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Epistulae, ed. Isidorus Hilberg, 3 v. (New York: Johnson, 1970, repr. CSEL, 1910-18), ep.23

Date:

384