Saint of the Month: St. Paula

St. Paula was an early Church wife and mother, abbess and patron. Paula was born in Rome in 347 to a prominent family descended from the senatorial and heroic Scipio and Gracchi families. She was married at age sixteen to a Christian nobleman senator named Toxotius, and the couple welcomed four daughters and a son. They lived their lives in luxury and social prominence and were a happy couple. When Paula was thirty-two, Toxotius died, causing her to fall into a period of deep mourning. She befriended a woman named [St.] Marcella, who had been widowed less than a year after marrying. Marcella was organizing a group of like-minded widows and forming them into an early form of monasticism, characterized by penance, prayer, and simplicity. The group stayed at Paula’s estate on Aventine Hill. In 382, Marcella introduced Paula to her spiritual director [St.] Jerome, who was visiting Rome with two bishops, [St.] Epiphanius and Paulinus of Antioch. She was struck by Jerome’s fervor and asceticism, markedly different from the sophisticated Roman clergy, and she placed herself under his guidance and invited the three men to stay. Under Jerome’s influence, she grew in her habits of study and prayer. She helped him with his intensive Scripture studies, as she knew Greek very well, and he was at work translating the New Testament texts into the common language of Latin.

In 384, after the death of one of her daughters, Paula went on a pilgrimage with her daughter [St.] Eustochium and some others and they met Jerome at Antioch, traveling together with the intention of establishing monastic living in the Holy Land. After visiting the saintly ascetics in Egypt, they visited the holy sites in Palestine, which Paula experienced with great devotion and affection. The little group settled in Bethlehem. There, due in large part to Paula’s financing, they established a double monastery. Jerome had formed a group of men for the men’s portion of the monastery, and he continued his great Scripture opus in hisown small cell. The women were led by Paula, who guided the women in an early but very recognizable form of monasticism. The women practiced poverty, hospitality, and works of charity for the poor. Paula and Eustochium set up a nearby hostel for pilgrims, which provided income for their works. They eventually also established a hospital and a school. The double monastery had the men and women living in separate quarters and gathering together only for prayer and worship. Under Paula’s guidance, the nuns memorized the entire Psalter and sang it each day. The monasteries grew steadily and attracted many visitors, including from Africa and Asia.

In addition to serving as abbess, Paula continued her studies under Jerome’s guidance. She was loved and respected by the nuns for her motherly care. She studied Hebrew, which she learned to speak perfectly, as well as Old and New Testament Scripture, and continued to assist him in his great task. It was she who made sure that he had all that he needed to complete it. Once the Latin Vulgate was complete, Paula and Eustochium began the arduous work of making copies, which were surely greatly needed. She died January 26, 406 at age fifty-nine. Her funeral attracted a large crowd of people from all over Palestine. Jerome had her buried beneath the altar of the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem. She was recognized as a saint just a year after her death.

While she was not the first female ascetic, St. Paula was the first known nun in Church history. Her great friend and collaborator St. Jerome outlived Paula by more than fifteen years. He had kept a travel journal and wrote of her ardent devotion while visiting the holy sites of our Lord’s life, death, and resurrection. He also wrote about her leadership as an abbess and the great help she provided for him and his great work. He described her as having a keen interest in Sacred Scripture. Paula’s daughter Eustochium succeeded her mother as abbess. Two of Paula’s daughters died as young adults. Her son, Toxotius, had a daughter named Paula, who was tutored by Jerome after Paula’s death. Paula’s daughter Blessila, as well as Eustochium are both canonized saints. When Jerome died in c. 420, he was buried near Paula and Eustochium. St. Paula is the patroness of widows, and she provides an excellent example of a woman greatly devoted to her family, as well as her later vocation as an abbess. Her feast day is January 26.