Saint Paula of Rome is one of the few early female saints for whom we have a fair bit of information, likely because of her association with and support from Saint Jerome. In addition, As a part of a wealthy senatorial family, she was a descendant of Agamemnon. She is considered one of the early "Desert Mothers" in the solitary monastic tradition of Christianity.
The Desert Mothers and Desert Fathers were ascetics that lived in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria in the 4th and 5th centuries. Women who were highly influential on this important monastic tradition but were living outside of those desert locations are also described as Desert Mothers.
When I lived in the Vedanta Convent 30 years ago, I gobbled up the writings that featured these stellar monastics who remind me very much of the traditional Hindu holy men and women who dedicate themselves to the Lord and live as solitaries. [Even when lived in community, the vocation of a monastics is considered to be a solitary one. Monastics, though they had often been married prior to putting on monastic robes, do not marry or engage in extensive social contact. The "Divine Spouse" is the sole focus of their life.)
Paula herself had been married and widowed by her early 30's. She had led a life of comfort and luxury, with all the trappings, even to being carried around the city on a palanquin carried by eunuch slaves. She and her husband had 4 daughters and 1 son and, although she did not abandon her family, she placed her mind at the foot of the Lord.
With Saint Jerome and her daughter Eustochium, she set out on a pilgrimage the year after the death of her husband, and Jerome recounted, at a later time, how she was moved to see visions of Biblical era happenings as they visited each location. As a result of what she experienced there, she resolved to stay in Bethlehem to establish a retreat center there. As a wealthy woman with great status, this was easy for her. Paula headed a monastery for women, while Saint Jerome managed the monastery given over to the men. Large crowds visited both. It wasn't long before finances became strained, however, since the crowds were so large. Jerome had to sell some of his properties in order to continue to fund the venture.
Apparently, Paula subjected herself to a strict fasting regime and practiced a "destitute lifestyle," but considering that she was a very wealthy woman with power and status, it is hard to imagine. In any case, she became somewhat of a rock star in the Christian community.
I have to mention that Paula and Saint Jerome were the object of much scandalous gossip and dirty tricks. No matter what sort of religious organization is being discussed, there is ALWAYS this tendency for gossip about holy men and women. I am assuming that jealousy is the customary incentive. Also, normal human beings seem to have a hard time imagining a life without sexuality and relationships between men and women as being anything other than romantic or sexual. I keep thinking that I should write a post about Divine Love and Agape, but I wonder how many would understand the concept.
This has also been my experience in the various religious traditions I have experienced. I myself was the object of scorn, derision and idle gossip - all of it untrue, and all of it spread by people who spend a lot of their energy trying to polish their image as supposedly holy people. Whether Scientologists, Hindu, Buddhist or Christian, many people cannot seem to restraint themselves from gossiping and spreading rumors. It is a toxic habit. You have to feel sorry for these people, though, because it is clear that, had they experienced the direct presence of the Lord, they would not be fixated on the baser aspects of life.
There is also some degree of misunderstanding about the possibilities of conversion of human beings and the degree to which a person can be radically changed by spiritual practices. Some people believe that you have to ALWAYS have been perfect in order to become perfected in spiritual life, which makes NO sense whatsoever, but there is this temptation. It was common for a long time that Catholic monastic institutions would not accept women who were not either virgins or wealthy widows.
Those who have been married and have experienced the baser pleasures of life, such as Saint Paula, are assumed to be untrustworthy in the minds of short-sighted people of limited experience with the union of the soul with God. But to the person who is pursuing the Lord with all their heart, it probably doesn't affect them. They're too focused on the prize and too wrapped up in the inner journey to debase their minds by giving attention to this sort of tawdry thinking.
It is very likely that theirs was a combination of intellectual and spiritual companionship. She helped him with his translation of the Bible into Latin, since she had some facility with Hebrew. She and her daughter helped with the copying and the circulation of copies.
In the end, Jerome was buried next to Paula and her daughter Eustochium. We do not know the full extent of their relationship. After all, how COULD we, really? But I, for one, don't buy the rumors and slander. In fact, Jerome's contemporary, Palladius, insinuated that Jerome was actually jealous of Saint Paula's massive intellectual and spiritual gifts and that his "support" of her spiritual vocation was actually something of a suppression of her talents, rather than a support to them. We will never know for sure.
It DOES go to show, however, that the saints and their companions lives are not that much different than our own, and it is therefore a bit easier to follow in the footprints of the saints than what we might have imagined in the days before we knew them a bit better. All of this is an encouragement to me, personally and, once again, I was thrilled to learn a bit more about a saint with whom I wasn't much familiar previously.
I hope that MY contemporaries who follow a similar path are likewise inspired to stay on it and not wander.
Silver Rose
(C) Copyright 2021
All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment