Praising And Judging Women

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 sexu, sed animo judicamus, contemptaeque nobilitatis ac divitiarum majorem gloriam ducimus. Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistula CXXVII, Ad Principiam Virginem Migne PL 22 1090

Perhaps the unbelieving reader laughs at me for dwelling on the praises of mere women, he who, if he will but remember holy women, the companions of the Lord and Saviour, who ministered to Him of their substance, and the three Marys standing before the cross, especially Mary Magdalen, who on account of her diligence and the fire of her faith received the name 'the tower' and who first before the Apostles was worthy to see the risen Christ, he will condemn himself for pride rather than me for folly. We judge virtue not by sex but by the soul, and contempt of status and wealth we account the greater glory. St Jerome, from Letter 127, To The Nun Principia