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Paula of Rome

347 – 404 · b. Rome
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Roman aristocrat, widow, and ascetic who became Jerome's closest patron and collaborator. After meeting Jerome in Rome in 382 she followed him to the East, settling at Bethlehem in 386 where she founded and led a women's monastery alongside Jerome's men's house, financed his scholarly work on the Vulgate, and learned Hebrew and Greek to assist his exegesis. She was buried in Bethlehem; Jerome wrote her epitaph and a long obituary letter (Ep. 108) to her daughter Eustochium.

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Common questions

Who was Paula of Rome?
Paula of Rome (347–404) — Roman aristocrat, widow, and ascetic who became Jerome's closest patron and collaborator. After meeting Jerome in Rome in 382 she followed him to the East, settling at Bethlehem in 386 where she founded and led a women's monastery alongside Jerome's men's house, financed his scholarly work on the Vulgate, and learned Hebrew and Greek to assist his exegesis. She was buried in Bethlehem; Jerome wrote her epitaph and a long obituary letter (Ep. 108) to her daughter Eustochium.
Who did Paula of Rome teach?
Eustochium.
Who did Paula of Rome correspond with?
Jerome.
Who did Paula of Rome meet?
Epiphanius of Salamis.

Sources for biography

  • Jerome, Epistula 108 (Epitaphium Paulae) primary
  • Jerome, Epistulae 30, 39, 46 primary
  • ODCC s.v. Paula, St secondary

documented connections(3)

  • corresponded Jerome
    Paula and Eustochium are joint addressees of numerous Hieronymian letters and prefaces; Jerome composed her epitaph.
    Jerome, Epistulae 30, 39, 46, 108
  • met Epiphanius of Salamis
    Jerome's epitaph for Paula recounts her hosting Epiphanius in Rome and visiting him at Salamis on her journey east.
    Jerome, Epistula 108.6-7
  • taught by (incoming) Eustochium
    Daughter of Paula; raised in her mother's ascetic household and succeeded her as head of the Bethlehem women's monastery.
    Jerome, Epistula 108

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