Monasticism Comes To Rome

Nulla eo tempore nobilium feminarum noverat Romae propositum Monachorum, nec audebat propter rei novitatem, ignominiosum, ut tunc putabatur, et vile in populis nomen assumere. Haec ab Alexandrinis Sacerdotibus, Papaque Athanasio, et postea Petro, qui persecutionem Arianae haereseos declinantes, quasi ad tutissimum communionis suae portum Romam confugerant, vitam beati Antonii adhuc tunc viventis, monasteriorumque in Thebaide, Pachomii, et virginum ac viduarum didicit disciplinam. Nec erubuit profiteri, quod Christo placere cognoverat. Hanc multos post annos imitata est Sophronia, et alia: quibus rectissime illud Ennianum aptari potest: Utinam ne in nemore Pelio. Huius amicitiis fruita est Paula venerabilis. In huius cubiculo nutrita Eustochium, virginitatis decus: ut facilis aestimatio sit, qualis magistra, ubi tales disciulae. Rideat forsan infidelis lector, me in muliercularum laudibus immorari, 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 sexo, sed animo iudicamus; contemptaeque nobilitas ac divitiarum maiorem gloriam ducimus.  Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistula CXXVII, Ad Principiam Source: Migne PL 22 1089-1090

No noble lady at Rome in that time had made profession of the monastic life, or had dared on account of how peculiar and disgraceful it then seemed, even vile, to take up such a name among the people. From some priests of Alexandria, and from the bishop Athanasius, and then from Peter, who was fleeing the persecution of the Arian heretics, all seeking for refuge in Rome as the safest haven in which they could find communion, from these Marcella learned of the life of the blessed Antony, then still alive, and of the monasteries of Pachomius in the Thebaid, and of the discipline laid down for virgins and for widows. Nor did she blush to profess a life which she had learned pleased Christ. Many years after her example there was Sophronia and others, of whom it may be well said by Ennius: 'Would that never in Pelion's woods came the axes...' 1 Paula was the fruit of her venerable friendship, and it was in Marcella's cell that Eustochium, glory of virgins, was nourished. Thus it is easy to judge the quality of the mistress by such pupils. The faithless reader may perhaps laugh for my lingering on the praises of women, but let him remember the holy women who were companions of our Lord and Saviour and ministered to Him of their substance, and how the three Marys stood before the cross and especially how Magdalen, because of the ardor of her faith receiving the name of the tower, was the first, before all the Apostles, to merit seeing the risen Christ, and thus he will convict himself of pride rather than condemn me for ineptitude. By soul and not by sex we judge virtue, and by contempt of nobility and riches we rate glory. St Jerome, from Letter 127, To Principia 1 Ennius, Medea, fragment