A letter from Jerome (412)

Translated letter:

You have often and earnestly begged me, Principia, virgin of Christ, to honour in writing the memory of that saintly woman Marcella, and to set forth the goodness we so long enjoyed for others to know and imitate. It is, however, something of a grief to me that you should spur a willing horse, or that you should think I need your entreaties, seeing that I do not yield even to you in love for her. In recording her signal virtues I shall indeed receive more benefit myself than I confer upon others. That I have kept silence up till now, and have allowed two years to pass without speaking, has not been due to any wish to repress my feelings, as you wrongly think, but rather to my incredible grief; which has so overwhelmed my mind that I judged it better to remain silent for the moment than to produce something unworthy of her fame. And even now I shall not follow the rules of rhetoric in praising your, mine, or to speak more truly, our Marcella, the glory of all the saints and peculiarly of the city of Rome. I shall not describe her illustrious household, the splendour of her ancient lineage, and the long series of consuls and praetorian prefects who have been her ancestors. I shall praise nothing in her save that which is her own, the more noble in that, despising wealth and rank, by poverty and lowliness she has won higher nobility. 2. On her father’s death she was left an orphan, and she also lost her husband seven months after marriage. Thereupon Cerealis, a man of high consular rank, paid her assiduous court, attracted by her youth, her ancient family, her modest character, and those personal charms which always find such favour with men. Being an old man he promised her all his money, and offered to make over his fortune as though she were his daughter, not his wife. Her mother Albina was excessively anxious to secure so illustrious a protector for the widowed household, but Marcella’s answer was this: ‘ If I wished to marry and did not rather desire to dedicate myself to perpetual chastity, I should in any case look for a husband, not an inheritance.’ Cerealis urged that old men might possibly live long and young men die early, but to that she wittily retorted: ' A young man may possibly die early, but an old man cannot possibly live long.’ This definite rejection warned other men that they had no hope of winning her as wife. In the Gospel according to Luke we read: ‘ There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of great age, and had seen many days; and she had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; and she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, who departed not from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.’ It is not strange that she earned the vision of the Saviour whom she sought so earnestly. Let us now compare the two cases. Anna was married for seven years, Marcella for seven months. Anna hoped for Christ, Marcella held Him fast. Anna confessed Him at his birth, Marcella believed in Him crucified. Anna did not deny the child, Marcella rejoiced in the man as king. I am not drawing distinctions of merit between two saintly women, as some people foolishly do between saintly men and heads of churches. The point of my claim is this; as these two shared one labour so they will gain one reward. 3. In a slander-loving place, and in a city where the people once was the world, and it was the triumph of vice to disparage virtue and to defile all that is pure and clean, it is difficult not to drag along some fables of calumnious gossips. Therefore it is for a thing difficult and almost impossible that the prophet hopes rather than thinks to win when he says: ‘ Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord.’ He means by the undefiled in this world’s way those whom no breath of scandal has sullied and who have incurred no reproach from their neighbours. So too the Saviour in the Gospel says: ‘Agree with [or be kindly to] thine adversary whilst thou art in the way with him.’ Whoever heard anything displeasing about Marcella that deserved belief? Who that believed such a tale did not rather convict himself of malice and backbiting ? She put the Gentiles to confusion by showing to all what sort of thing that Christian widowhood is which she revealed in every thought and look. Gentile widows are wont to paint their faces with rouge and white lead, to flaunt in silk dresses, to deck themselves in gleaming jewels, to wear gold necklaces, to hang from their pierced ears the costliest Red Sea pearls, and to reek of musk. Rejoicing that they have at length escaped from a husband’s dominion, they look about for a new mate, intending not to yield him obedience, as God ordained, but to be his lord and master. With this object they choose poor men, husbands only in name, who must patiently put up with rivals, and if they murmur can be kicked out on the spot. Our widow, on the other hand, wore clothes that were meant to keep out the cold, not to reveal her bare limbs. Even a gold signet ring she rejected, preferring to store her money in the stomachs of the needy rather than hide it in a purse. Nowhere would she go without her mother, never would she interview without witnesses one of the monks, or clergy, which was often necessary for the needs of her large household. Always her retinue consisted of virgins and widows, and they were all staid women; for she knew that a saucy maid is a reflection on her mistress’ character, and that women usually prefer the company of people like themselves. 4. Her ardent love for God’s Scriptures surpasses all belief. She was for ever singing: ‘Thy words have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee’; and also the passage about the perfect man: 'His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law he doth meditate day and night.’ Meditation in the law meant for her not a mere reperusal of the Scriptures, as the Jewish Pharisees think, but a carrying it out in action. She obeyed the apostle’s command: ‘ Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God ’; and also the words of the prophet: ‘Through thy precepts I have got understanding.’ She knew that only when she had fulfilled those precepts would she deserve to understand the Scriptures. So we read in another place ‘that Jesus began both to do and teach.’ However fine a man’s teaching may be, it is put to the blush when his own conscience reproves him; and it is in vain that his tongue preaches poverty and teaches almsgiving, if he himself is swollen with the wealth of a Croesus, and though he wears a coarse cloak fights to keep the moths from the silken robes in his cupboard. Marcella practised fasting, but in moderation; and she abstained from eating meat. The scent of wine was more familiar to her than the taste, for she drank it only for her stomach’s sake and her frequent infirmities. She seldom appeared in public and carefully avoided the houses of ladies of rank, that she might not be forced to see there what she herself had rejected; but she frequently visited the churches of the apostles and martyrs for quiet prayer, avoiding the people’s throng. To her mother she was so obedient that occasionally she did for her sake things that went against her own inclination. For example, Albina was devoted to her own kinsfolk, and wished to leave all her property to her brother’s children, being without sons and grandsons: Marcella would have preferred to give it to the poor, but still she could not go against her mother, and handed over her necklaces and other effects to people already rich for them to squander. She chose rather to see money lost than to vex her mother’s feelings. 5. At that time no great lady in Rome knew anything of the monastic life, nor ventured to call herself a nun. The thing itself was strange and the name was commonly accounted ignominious and degrading. It was from some priests of Alexandria and from Pope Athanasius and from Peter afterwards, who to escape the persecution of the Arian heretics had all fled to Rome as being the safest refuge for their communion, that Marcella was told of the life of the blessed Antony, then still in this world, and of the monasteries founded by Pachumius in the Thebaid, and of the discipline laid down there for virgins and widows. She was not ashamed to profess a life which she knew was pleasing to Christ; and many years later her example was followed by Sophronia and by some other ladies, to whom the lines of Ennius may most fitly be applied: ‘Would that ne’er in Pelion’s woods!’ Her friendship was also enjoyed by the revered Paula, and in her cell that paragon of virgins Eustochium was trained. Such pupils as these make it easy for us to judge the character of their teacher. Those unbelievers who read me may perhaps smile to find me lingering over the praises of weak women. But if they will recall how holy women attended Our Lord and Saviour and ministered to Him of their substance, and how the three Marys stood before the cross, and particularly how Mary of Magdala, called ‘of the tower’ because of her earnestness and ardent faith, was privileged to see the rising Christ first even before the apostles, they will convict themselves of pride rather than me of folly, who judge of virtue not by the sex but by the mind. Therefore it was that Jesus loved the evangelist John most of all; for he was of noble birth and known to the high priest, but he feared the Jews’ plottings so little that he brought Peter into the priest’s palace, and was the only apostle who stood before the cross and took the Saviour’s mother to his own home, a virgin son receiving the Virgin Mother as a legacy from Our Virgin Lord. 6. So Marcella lived her life for many years, and found herself old before she ever remembered that once she had been young, approving Plato’s saying, who declared that philosophy is a preparation for death. Wherefore our own apostle also says: ‘ For your salvation I die daily.’ So Our Lord too, according to the ancient copies, said: ‘ Whosoever doth not bear his cross daily and come after me cannot be my disciple.’ Indeed ages ago the Holy Spirit by the mouth of the prophet declared: ‘ For thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.’ And again after many generations we have the proverb: ‘ Remember ever the day of death and you will never go wrong.’ Lastly there is the satirist’s shrewd precept: ‘ Live thou remembering death, for time flies fast. This moment’s speech I snatch before ’tis past.’ Well then, as I began to say, Marcella in all the days of her life remembered that she must die. Her very dress reminded her of the tomb, and she offered herself as a living sacrifice, reasonable and acceptable unto God. 7. Lastly, when the needs of the Church brought me also to Rome in company with the holy pontiffs Paulinus and Epiphanius, directors respectively of the churches of Syrian Antioch and of Salamis in Cyprus, I in my modesty was inclined to avoid the gaze of ladies of rank. But Marcella was so urgent ‘both in season and out of season,’ as the apostle says, that her persistence overcame my timidity. At that time I had some repute as a student of the Scriptures, and so she never met me without asking me some question about them, nor would she rest content at once, but would bring forward points on the other side ; this, however, was not for the sake of argument, but that by questioning she might learn an answer to such objections as she saw might be raised. What virtue and intellect, what holiness and purity I found in her I am afraid to say, both lest I should exceed the limits of men’s belief, and also that I may not increase the pain of your grief by reminding you of the blessings you have lost. This only will I say; all that I had gathered together by long study, and by constant meditation made part of my nature, she first sipped, then learned, and finally took for her own. Consequently, after my departure from Rome, if any argument arose concerning the testimony of the Scriptures, it was to her verdict that appeal was made. She was extremely prudent and always followed the rules of what philosophers call to uritriu [Greek], that is, propriety of conduct. Therefore, even when her answers to questions were her own, she said they came not from her but from me or some one else, admitting herself to be a pupil even when she was teaching—for she knew that the apostle said: ‘ I do not allow a woman to teach '—1 so that she might not seem to do a wrong to the male sex, and sometimes even to priests, when they asked questions on obscure and doubtful points. 8. I have heard that you at once took my place as her close companion, and that you never left her side even for a finger’s breadth, as the saying goes. You lived in the same house, and had the same cell and bed, so that every one in the great city knew that you had found a mother and she a daughter. A farm near Rome was your monastery, the country being chosen because of its loneliness. You lived thus together for a long time, and as many other ladies followed your example and joined your company, I had the joy of seeing Rome become another Jerusalem. Monastic establishments for virgins were founded in many places, and the number of monks in the city surpassed all counting. Indeed, so great was the crowd of God’s servants that the name, which previously had been a term of reproach, was now one of honour. Meanwhile we consoled ourselves for our separation by an interchange of conversation, discharging in the spirit the debt that we could not pay in the flesh. Our letters always crossed, outvied in courtesies, anticipated in greetings. Separation brought no great loss, since it was bridged by a continual correspondence. 9. In the midst of this tranquillity and service rendered to God, there arose in these provinces a tempest which threw everything into confusion, and finally swelled to such heights of madness that it spared neither itself nor anything that was good. As though it were not enough to have disturbed all our community here, it despatched a ship laden with blasphemies to the port of Rome. There the dish soon found a cover to match it, and muddy feet fouled the clear fountain of the Roman faith. It is not surprising that in the streets and marketplaces of the city a painted quack can strike fools on the buttocks and knock out the teeth of objectors with a blow from his stick, seeing that this poisonous and filthy teaching found dupes at Rome to lead astray. Then came the disgraceful version of Origen’s book On First Principles and that disciple who might truly have been called ‘ Felix ’ if he had never fallen in with such a teacher. Next followed my supporters’ fiery confutation which threw the whole school of the Pharisees into confusion. Finally our saintly Marcella, who for a long time had closed her eyes to all this lest she should be thought to put herself in rivalry, finding that the faith which the apostle once praised was now in many people being endangered, came forward openly on my side. As the heretic was drawing to his cause not only priests, monks and above all laity, but was even imposing on the simplicity of the bishop, who judged other men by himself, she publicly withstood him, choosing to please God rather than men. 10. In the Gospel the Saviour praises the unjust steward, because, though he cheated his master, he acted wisely for himself. The heretics in the same way, seeing that a small spark had kindled a great fire, and that the flames which for a long time had been hidden were now at the housetops, so that the deception practised on many could no longer be hid, asked for and obtained letters from the church of Rome, that it might seem that they were in full communion until the day of their departure. Soon after this the great Anastasius succeeded to the pontificate; but Rome was not privileged to have him long, lest the head of the world should be struck off while so noble a man was bishop. He was indeed swiftly removed from this earth that he might not seek by his prayers to avert the sentence which God once for all had passed. For the Lord said to Jeremiah: ‘Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt-offering and oblation, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence.’ You may say: ‘ What has this to do with the praise of Marcella?’ The answer is that she took the first steps in getting the heretics condemned. It was she who brought forward as witnesses those who first had been instructed by them and afterwards had seen the error of their heresy. It was she who revealed the numbers they had deceived, and brandished in their faces the impious books On First Principles, which as emended by that scorpion’s hand were then openly on view. It was she finally who in a succession of letters challenged the heretics to defend themselves; a challenge which they did not dare to accept, for so strong was their consciousness of sin that they preferred to be condemned in their absence rather than appear and be proved guilty. For this glorious victory Marcella was responsible ; she with you was the source and cause of this great blessing. You, who know that my story is true, understand that I am only mentioning a few incidents out of many, lest a tedious repetition should weary the reader. Moreover, I do not wish malignant people to think that under pretence of praising another I am giving vent to my own rancour. I will now proceed to the rest of my tale. 11. The hurricane passed from the Western world into the East and threatened very many with dire shipwreck. Then were fulfilled the words : ‘Thinkest thou that when the son of man cometh he shall find faith on earth?’ The love of many grew cold, but a few who loved the truth of faith rallied to my side. Their lives were openly sought and every means was used to attack them, so that indeed ‘ Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation,’ and committed plain murder, in wish at least if not in deed. But lo! the Lord blew and all the tempest passed away, and the prediction of the prophet was fulfilled: ‘Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.’ ‘In that very day their thoughts perish.’ With it also the Gospel words were accomplished: ‘Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?’ 12. While these things were taking place in Jebus, a dreadful rumour reached us from the West. We heard that Rome was besieged, that the citizens were buying their safety with gold, and that when they had been thus despoiled they were again beleaguered, so as to lose not only their substance but their lives. The speaker’s voice failed and sobs interrupted his utterance. The city which had taken the whole world was itself taken; nay, it fell by famine before it fell by the sword, and there were but a few found to be made prisoners. The rage of hunger had recourse to impious food; men tore one another’s limbs, and the mother did not spare the baby at her breast, taking again within her body that which her body had just brought forth. ‘In the night was Moab taken, in the night did her wall fall down.’ ‘ O God, the heathen have come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have made Jerusalem an orchard. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.’ ‘Who can tell that night of havoc, who can shed enough of tears For those deaths? The ancient city that for many a hundred years Ruled the world comes down in ruin: corpses lie in every street And men’s eyes in every household death in countless phases meet.’ 13. Meanwhile, as you might expect in such a turmoil, the blood-stained conquerors burst their way into Marcella’s house. ‘Be it mine to say what I have heard,’ nay, rather to relate what was seen by those holy men who were present at that hour, and found you, Principia, at her side in the time of danger. They tell me that she confronted the intruders with fearless face, and when they asked her for gold and hidden treasures pointed to her coarse gown. However, they would not give credence to her self-chosen poverty, but beat her with sticks and whipped her. She felt no pain, but throwing herself in tears at their feet begged them not to take you from her or force your youth to endure the fate which her old age had no occasion to fear. Christ softened their hard hearts, and even among blood-stained swords a sense of duty found place. The barbarians escorted both her and you to the church of the apostle Paul, for you to find there either safety or a tomb. There she burst into cries of joy, thanking God for having kept you unharmed for her. ‘ By heaven’s grace,’ she said, ‘ captivity has found me a poor woman, not made me one. Now I shall go in want of daily bread, but I shall not feel hunger since I am full of Christ and can say in word and deed: “ Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” 14. Some months after this she fell asleep in the Lord, sound in mind and not suffering from any malady, with her poor body still active. She made you the heir of her poverty, or rather she made the poor her heirs through you. In your arms she closed her eyes, your lips received her last breath; you were weeping, but she smiled, conscious of having lived a good life and hoping for a hereafter. This letter to you, revered Marcella, and to you, my daughter Principia, I have dictated in the wakeful hours of one short night. I have used no charms of eloquence; my one wish has been to show my gratitude to you both, my one desire to please both God and my readers.

Original letter:

1. SAEPE et multum flagitas, virgo Christi Principia, ut memoriam sanctae feminae Marcellae litteris recolam et bonum, quo diu fruiti sumus, etiam ceteris noscendum imitandumque describam. Satisque doleo, quod hortaris sponte currentem et me arbitraris indigere precibus, qui ne tibi quidem in eius dilectione concedam multoque plus accipiam quam tribuam beneficii tantarum recordatione virtutum. Nam ut hucusque reticerem et biennium praeterirem silentio, non fuit dissimulationis, ut male aestimas, sed tristitiae incredibilis, quae ita meum obpressit animum, ut melius iudicarem tacere inpraesentiarum, quam nihil dignum illius laudibus dicere. Neque vero Marcellam tuam, immo meam et, ut verius loquar, nostram, omniumque sanctorum et proprie Romanae urbis inclitum decus, institutis rhetorum praedicabo, ut exponam illustrem familiam, alti sanguinis decus et stemmata per consules et praefectos praetorio decurrentia. Nihil in ilia laudabo, nisi quod proprium est et in eo nobilius, quod opibus et nobilitate contempta facta est paupertate et humilitate nobilior.
2. Orbata patris morte viro quoque post nuptias septimo mense privata est. Cumque eam Cerealis, cuius clarum inter consules nomen est, propter aetatem et antiquitatem familiae et insignem—quod maxime viris placere consuevit—decorem corporis ac insignem temperantiam ambitiosius peteret suasque longaevus polliceretur divitias et non quasi in uxorem sed quasi in filiam vellet donationem transfundere Albinaque mater tam clarum praesidium viduitati domus ultro appeteret, illa respondit: ‘ Si vellem nubere et non aeternae me cuperem pudicitiae dedicare, utique maritum quaererem, non hereditatem.’ Illoque mandante posse et senes diu vivere et iuvenes cito mori eleganter lusit: ‘ Iuvenis quidem potest cito mori, sed senex diu vivere non potest.’ Qua sententia repudiatus exemplo ceteris fuit, ut eius nuptias desperarent. Legimus in evangelio secundum Lucam: ‘Et erat Anna prophetissa, filia Phanuhelis, de tribu Aser et haec provectae aetatis in diebus plurimis. Vixeratque cum viro annis septem a virginitate sua et erat vidua annis octoginta quattuor nec recedebat de templo ieiuniis et obsecrationibus serviens nocte ac die.’ Nec mirum, si videre meruit salvatorem, quem tanto labore quaerebat. Conferamus septem annos septem mensibus, sperare Christum et tenere, natum confiteri et in crucifixum credere, parvulum non negare et virum gaudere regnantem: non facio ullam inter sanctas feminas differentiam, quod nonnulli inter sanctos viros et ecclesiarum principes stulte facere consuerunt, sed illo tendit adsertio, ut, quarum unus labor, unum et praemium sit.
3. Difficile est in maledica civitate et in urbe, in qua orbis quondam populus fuit palmaque vitiorum, si honestis detraherent et pura ac munda macularent, non aliquam sinistri rumoris fabulam trahere. Unde quasi rem difficillimam ac paene inpossibilem optat propheta potius quam praesumit dicens: ‘Beati inmaculati in via, qui ambulant in lege domini,’ inmaculatos in via huius appellans saeculi, quos nulla obscena rumoris aura macularit, qui obprobrium non acceperint adversus proximos suos. De quibus et salvator in evangelio: ‘Esto,’ inquit, ‘benivolus'—sive ‘bene sentiens’—‘de adversario tuo, dum es cum illo in via’ Quis umquam de hac muliere, quod displiceret, audivit, ut crederet? Quis credidit, ut non magis se ipsum malignitatis et infamiae condemnaret? Ab hac primum confusa gentilitas est, dum omnibus patuit, quae esset viduitas Christiana, quam et conscientia et habitu promittebat. Illae enim solent purpurisso et cerussa ora depingere, sericis nitere vestibus, splendere gemmis, aurum portare cervicibus et auribus perforatis Rubri Maris pretiosissima grana suspendere, flagrare mure, et tandem dominatu virorum se caruisse laetentur quaerantque alios, non quibus iuxta Dei sententiam serviant, sed quibus imperent. Unde et pauperes eligunt, ut nomen tantum virorum habere videantur, qui patienter rivales sustineant, si mussitaverint, ilico proiciendi. Nostra vidua talibus usa est vestibus, quibus obstaret frigus, non membra nudaret, aurum usque ad anuli signaculum repudians et magis in ventribus egenorum quam in marsuppiis recondens. Nusquam sine matre, nullum clericorum et monachorum—quod amplae domus interdum exigebat necessitas—vidit absque arbitris. Semper in comitatu suo virgines ac viduas et ipsas graves feminas habuit sciens ex lascivia puellarum saepe de dominarum moribus iudicari et, qualis quaeque sit, talium consortio delectari.
4. Divinarum scripturarum ardor incredibilis, semperque cantabat: ‘ In corde meo abscondi eloquia tua, ut non peccem tibi,’ et illud de perfecto viro: ‘ Et in lege domini voluntas eius et in lege eius meditabitur die ac nocte,’ meditationem legis non replicando, quae scripta sunt, ut Iudaeorum aestimant Pharisaei, sed in opere intellegens iuxta illud apostolicum: ‘Sive comeditis sive bibitis sive quid agitis, omnia in gloriam domini facientes’ et prophetae verba dicentis: ‘A mandatis tuis intellexi,’ ut, postquam mandata conplesset, tunc se sciret mereri intellegentiam scripturarum. Quod et alibi legimus: ‘Quia coepit Iesus facere et docere.’ Erubescit enim quamvis praeclara doctrina, quam propria reprehendit conscientia, frustraque lingua praedicat paupertatem et docet elemosynas, qui Croesi divitiis tumet vilique opertus palliolo pugnat contra tineas vestium sericarum. Moderata ieiunia, carnium abstinentia, vini odor magis quam gustus propter stomachum et frequentes infirmitates. Raro procedebat ad publicum et maxime nobilium matronarum vitabat domus, ne cogeretur videre, quod contempserat, apostolorum et martyrum basilicas secretis celebrans orationibus et quae populorum frequentiam declinarent. Matri in tantum oboediens, ut interdum faceret, quod nolebat. Nam cum illa suum diligeret sanguinem et absque filiis ac nepotibus vellet in fratris liberos universa conferri, ista pauperes eligebat et tamen matri contraire non poterat monilia et, quicquid supellectilis fuit, divitibus peritura concedens magisque volens pecuniam perdere quam parentis animum contristare.
5. Nulla eo tempore nobilium feminarum noverat Romae propositum monachorum nec audebat propter rei novitatem ignominiosum, ut tunc putabatur, et vile in populis nomen adsumere. Haec ab Alexandras sacerdotibus papaque Athanasio et postea Petro, qui persecutionem Arrianae hereseos declinantes quasi ad tutissimum communionis suae portum Roman confugerant, vitam beati Antonii adhuc tunc viventis monasteriaque in Thebaide Pachumii et virginum ac viduarum didicit disciplinam nec erubuit profiteri, quod Christo placere cognoverat. Hanc multos post annos imitata est Sophronia et aliae, quibus rectissime illud Ennianum aptari potest: ‘Utinam ne in nemore Pelio.’ Huius amicitiis fruita est Paula venerabilis, in huius nutrita cubiculo Eustochium, virginitatis decus, ut facilis aestimatio sit, qualis magistra, ubi tales discipulae. Rideat forsitan infidelis lector me in muliercularum laudibus inmorari: qui si recordetur sanctas feminas, comites domini salvatoris, quae ministrabant ei de sua substantia, et tres Marias stantes ante crucem Mariamque proprie Magdalenen, quae ob sedulitatem et ardorem fidei ‘turritae’ nomen accepit et prima ante apostolos Christum videre meruit resurgentem, se potius superbiae quam nos condemnabit ineptiarum, qui virtutes non sexu sed animo iudicamus. Unde et Iesus Iohannem evangelistam amabat plurimum, qui propter generis nobilitatem erat notus pontifici et Iudaeorum insidias non timebat, in tantum, ut Petrum introduceret in atrium et staret solus apostolorum ante crucem matremque salvatoris in sua reciperet, ut hereditatem virginis domini virginem matrem filius virgo susciperet.
6. Annis igitur plurimis sic suam transegit aetatem, ut ante se vetulam cerneret, quam adulescentulam fuisse meminisset, laudans illud Platonicum, qui philosophiam meditationem mortis esse dixisset. Unde et noster apostolus: ‘cotidie morior per vestram salutem,’ et dominus iuxta antiqua exemplaria: 'Nisi quis tulerit crucem suam cotidie et secutus fuerit me, non potest meus esse discipulus,’ multoque ante per prophetam Spiritus Sanctus: ‘Propter te mortificamur tota die, aestimati sumus ut oves occisionis’ et post multas aetates illa sententia: ‘Memento semper diem mortis et numquam peccabis,’ disertissimique praeceptum satirici: ‘Vive memor leti, fugit hora, hoc, quod loquor, inde est.’ Sic ergo—ut dicere coeperamus—aetatem duxit et vixit, ut semper se crederet esse morituram. Sic induta est vestibus, ut meminisset sepulchri, offerens hostiam rationabilem, vivam, placentem Deo.
7. Denique, cum et me Romam cum sanctis pontificibus Paulino et Epiphanio ecclesiastica traxisset necessitas—quorum alter Antiochenam Syriae, alter Salaminiam Cypri rexit ecclesiam—et verecunde nobiliarum feminarum oculos declinarem, ita egit secundum apostolum ‘inportune, oportune,’ ut pudorem meum sua superaret industria. Et quia alicuius tunc nominis aestimabar super studio scripturarum, numquam convenit, quin de scripturis aliquid interrogaret nec statim adquiesceret, sed moveret e contrario quaestiones, non ut contenderet, sed ut quaerendo disceret earum solutiones, quas opponi posse intellegebat. Quid in illa virtutum, quid ingenii, quid sanctitatis, quid puritatis invenerim, vereor dicere, ne fidem credulitatis excedam et tibi maiorem dolorem incutiam recordanti, quanto bono carueris. Hoc solum dicam, quod, quicquid in nobis longo fuit studio congregatum et meditatione diuturna quasi in naturam versum, hoc illa libavit, hoc didicit atque posscdit, ita ut post perfectionem nostram, si aliquo testimonio scripturarum esset oborta contentio, ad illam iudicem pergeretur. Et quia valde prudens erat et noverat illud, quod appellant philosophi to prepon [Greek], id est decere, quod facias, sic interrogata respondebat, ut etiam sua non sua diceret, sed vel mea vel cuiuslibet alterius, ut et in ipso, quod docebat, se discipulam fateretur—sciebat enim dictum ab apostolo: ‘Docere autem mulieri non permitto’—ne virili sexui et interdum sacerdotibus de obscuris et ambiguis sciscitantibus facere videretur iniuriam.
8. In nostrum locum statim audivimus te illius adhaesisse consortio et numquam ab illa ne transversum quidem unguis, ut dicitur, recessisse eadem domo, eodem cubiculo, una usam cubili et omnibus in urbe clarissima notum fieret et te matrem et illam filiam repperisse. Suburbanus ager vobis pro monasterio fuit et rus electum propter solitudinem. Multoque ita vixisti tempore, ut imitatione vestri et conversatione multarum gauderemus Romam factam Hierosolymam. Crebra virginum monasteria, monachorum innumerabilis multitudo, ut pro frequentia servientium Deo, quod prius ignominiae fuerat, esset postea gloriae. Interim absentiam nostri mutuis solabamur adloquiis et, quod carne non poteramus, spiritu reddebamus. Semper se obviare epistulae, superare officiis, salutationibus praevenire. Non multum perdebat, quae iugibus sibi litteris iungebatur.
9. In hac tranquillitate et domini servitute heretica in his provinciis exorta tempestas cuncta turbavit et in tantam rabiem concitata est, ut nec sibi nee ulli bonorum parceret. Et quasi parum esset hic universa movisse, navem plenam blasphemiarum Romano intulit portui invenitque protinus patella operculum et Romanae fidei purissimum fontem lutosa caeno permiscuere vestigia. Nec mirum, si in plateis et in foro rerum venalium pictus ariolus stultorum verberet nates et obtorto fuste dentes mordentium quatiat, cum venenata spurcaque doctrina Romae invenerit, quos induceret. Tunc librorum peri archon [Greek] infamis interpretatio, tunc discipulus olbios vere nominis sui, si in talem magistrum non inpegisset, tunc nostrorum diapyros contradictio et Pharisaeorum turbata schola. Tunc sancta Marcella, quae diu coniverat, ne per aemulationem quippiam facere crederetur, postquam sensit fidem apostolico ore laudatam in plerisque violari, ita ut sacerdotes quoque nonnullos monachorum maximeque saeculi homines in adsensum sui traheret hereticus ae simplicitati inluderet episcopi, qui de suo ingenio ceteros aestimabat, publice restitit malens Deo placere quam hominibus.
10. Laudat salvator in evangelio vilicum iniquitatis, quod contra dominum quidem, attamen pro se prudenter fecerit. Cernentes heretici de parva scintilla maxima incendia concitari et suppositam dudum flammam iam ad culmina pervenisse nec posse latere, quod multos deceperat, petunt et inpetrant ecclesiasticas epistulas, ut communicantes ecclesiae discedere viderentur. Non multum tempus in medio, succedit in pontificatum vir insignis Anastasius, quem diu Roma habere non meruit, ne orbis caput sub tali episcopo truncaretur; immo idcirco raptus atque translatus est, ne semel latam sententiam precibus suis flectere conaretur dicente domino ad Hieremiam: ‘Ne oraveris pro populo isto neque depreceris in bonum, quia, si ieiunaverint, non exaudiam preces eorum et, si obtulerint holocausta et victimas, non suscipiam eas; in gladio enim, fame et pestilentia ego consumam eos’ Dicas: ‘Quo hoc?’ ad laudem Marcellae. Damnationis hereticorum haec fuit principium, dum adducit testes, qui prius ab eis eruditi et postea ab heretico fuerant errore correcti, dum ostendit multitudinem deceptorum, dum inpia peri archon [Greek] ingerit volumina, quae emendata manu scorpii monstrantur, dum acciti frequentibus litteris heretici, ut se defenderent, venire non ausi sunt tantaque vis conscientiae fuit, ut magis absentes damnari quam praesentes coargui maluerint. Huius tam gloriosae victoriae origo Marcella est tuque caput horum et causa bonorum, quae scis me vera narrare quae nosti vix de multis pauca dicere, ne legenti fastidium faciat odiosa replicatio et videar apud malivolos sub occasione laudis alterius stomachum meum digerere. Pergam ad reliqua.
11. De occidentis partibus ad orientem turbo transgressus minitabatur plurimis magna naufragia. Tunc inpletum est: ‘Putas, veniens filius hominis inveniet fidem super terram?’ Refrigerata caritate multorum pauci, qui amabant fidei veritatem, nostro lateri iungebantur, quorum publice petebatur caput, contra quos omnes opes parabantur, ita ut ‘Barnabas quoque adduceretur in illam simulationem,’ immo apertum parricidium, quod non viribus sed voluntate commisit. Sed ecce universa tempestas domino flante deleta est et expletum vaticinium prophetale: ‘Auferes spiritum eorum et deficient et in pulverem suum revertentur. In illa die peribunt omnes cogitationes eorum,’ et illud evangelicum: ‘Stulte, bac nocte aufertur anima tua abs te; quae autem praeparasti, cuius erunt?’
12. Dum haec aguntur in Iebus, terribilis de occidente rumor adfertur obsideri Romam et auro salutem civium redimi spoliatosque rursum circumdari, ut post substantiam vitam quoque amitterent. Haeret vox et singultus intercipiunt verba dictantis. Capitur urbs, quae totum cepit orbem, immo fame perit ante quam gladio et vix pauci, qui caperentur, inventi sunt. Ad nefandos cibos erupit esurientium rabies et sua invicem membra laniarunt, dum mater non parcit lactanti infantiae et recipit utero, quem paulo ante effuderat. ‘ Nocte Moab capta est, nocte cecidit murus eius. Deus, venerunt gentes in hereditatem tuam, polluerunt templum sanctum tuum, posuerunt Hierusalem in pomorum custodiam, posuerunt cadavera servorum tuorum escas volatilibus caeli, carnes sanctorum tuorum bestiis terrae. Effuderunt sanguinem ipsorum sicut aquam in circuitu Hierusalem et non erat, qui sepeliret. ‘ Quis cladem illius noctis, quis funera fando Explicet aut possit lacrimis aequare dolorem? Urbs antiqua ruit multos dominata per annos Plurima perque vias sparguntur inertia passim Corpora perque domos, et plurima mortis imago.
13. Cum interim, ut tanta confusione rerum, Marcellae quoque domum cruentus victor ingreditur—‘ Sit mihi fas audita loqui,’ immo a sanctis viris visa narrare, qui interfuere praesentes, qui te dicunt in periculo quoque ei fuisse sociatam—intrepido vultu excepisse dicitur introgressos; cumque posceretur aurum et defossas opes vili excusaret tunica, non tamen fecit fidem voluntariae paupertatis. Caesam fustibus flagellisque aiunt non sensisse tormenta, sed hoc lacrimis, hoc pedibus eorum egisse prostratam, ne te a suo consortio separarent, ne sustineret adulescentia, quod senilis aetas timere non poterat. Christus dura corda mollivit et inter cruentos gladios invenit locum pietas. Cumque et illam et te ad beati Pauli basilicam barbari deduxissent, ut vel salutem vobis ostenderet vel sepulchrum, in tantam laetitiam dicitur erupisse, ut gratias ageret Deo, quod te sibi integram reservasset, quod pauperem illam non fecisset captivitas, sed invenisset, quod egeret cotidiano cibo, quod saturata Christo non sentiret esuriem, quod et voce et opere loqueretur: ‘ Nuda exivi de ventre matris meae, nuda et redeam. Sicut domino visum est, ita et factum est. Sit nomen domini benedictum.’
14. Post aliquot menses sana, integra vegetoque corpusculo dormivit in domino et te paupertatulae suae, immo per te pauperes reliquit heredes claudens oculos in manibus tuis, reddens spiritum in tuis osculis, dum inter lacrimas tuas illa rideret conscientia vitae bonae et praemiis futurorum. Haec tibi. Marcella venerabilis, et haec tibi, Principia filia, una et brevi lucubratione dictavi non eloquii venustate sed voluntate gratissimi in vos animi et Deo et legentibus placere desiderans.

Historical context:

Two years after her death, Jerome is finally able to bring himself to write the tribute to his friend Marcella who died as a result of injuries she suffered in the sack of Rome, a tribute which Principia, Marcella's companion for many years had asked him for. Jerome describes Marcella's life, her widowhood after seven months of marriage and her refusal to remarry, her devotion to the religious life and the companions she attracted to her monastic way of life and her death. He also pays tribute to her zeal for religious study, the constant questions she put to him, the discreet way she handled the questions that were put to her after Jerome left Rome, and her part in the Origenist controversy.

Printed source:

Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Epistulae, ed. Isidorus Hilberg, 3 v. (New York: Johnson, 1970, repr. CSEL, 1910-18), ep.127; text and translation from F.A. Wright, Select Letters of St. Jerome Loeb Classical Library, 438-67. 

Date:

412