E06327
Literary - Letters
Jerome of Stridon
Jerome of Stridon, Letter 108.13 ('Epitaphium Sanctae Paulae')
Atque inde revertens vidit duodecim patriarcharum sepulchra et Sebasten, id est Samariam, quae in honorem Augusti ab Herode Graeco sermone Augusta est nominata. Ibi siti sunt Heliseus et Abdias prophetae et quo maior inter natos mulierum non fuit baptista Iohannes. Ubi multis intremuit mirabilius. Namque cernebat daemones variis rugire cruciatibus et ante sepulchra sanctorum ululare homines luporum vocibus, latrare canum, fremere leonum, sibilare serpentum, mugire taurorum, alios rotare caput et post tergum terram vertice tangere, suspensisque pede feminis vestes non defluere in faciem.
'After departing thence she saw the tombs of the twelve patriarchs and Samaria, which Herod, in honor of Augustus, renamed Sebaste, meaning 'Augusta' in Greek. Buried there are the prophets Elisha, Obadiah, and John the Baptist, than whom nobody born among women has been greater. Here she trembled at many shocking things. For she witnessed demons hollering from many kinds of torment and, in front of the saints' tombs, men howling like wolves, barking like dogs, roaring like lions, hissing like serpents, and bellowing like bulls. Some twisted their heads and leaned backwards until they touched the ground with the crown of their head, and women were suspended upside down, yet their clothes did not fall down over their face.'
Text: Hilberg 1996 (1912).
Translation: Cain 2013, lightly modified.
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
MiraclesOther miracles with demons and demonic creatures
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Demons
Source
In the second half of 404 Jerome composed an Epitaph for his late friend and patron, Paula, which was transmitted to us as letter 108. The work depicts Paula as an example for ascetic women and bears features of a hagiographic Life.Paula died on 26 January 404 in Bethlehem. She was the descendant of a Roman aristocratic family, who traced their lineage back to the Gracchi and Scipiones. She was dedicated to the western ascetic movement and had spent more than twenty years by the side of Jerome of Stridon, whom she had followed with her daughter Eustochium to the Holy Land in 385, where they founded a monastery and a convent in Bethlehem. Paula was not only Jerome's most faithful companion, but also his biggest sponsor.
Jerome's Letter 108.8-13 describes Paula's pilgrimage through the Holy Land, which lasted from late winter 385 to late spring 386. It is, however, only a partial account, intended to show off Jerome's knowledge of biblical topography as much as to illustrate Paula's piety. Jerome specifically tells us that, at the beginning of his account of Paula's travels in the Holy Land, that he will only mention the places she visited which feature in the Bible: 'I say nothing of her journey through Syria Coele and Phoenicia, for it is not my intention to write a complete description of her travels; I will mention only those stops mentioned in the sacred books' (Omitto Syriae Coeles et Phoenices iter, neque enim odoeporicum eius disposui scribere; ea tantum loca nominabo quae sacris voluminibus continentur. Ep. 108, 8.1, trans. Cain). It is very possible that Paula also visited the shrines of post-biblical saints (as she had earlier done on Ponza - see E06524), but, if so, these visits were passed over by Jerome.
Discussion
One part of the epitaph, from which this extract is taken, describes Paula's journey to holy places, especially to those in Palestine, but also elsewhere.According to Rufinus, the tomb of John the Baptist in Sebaste was destroyed by pagans during the reign of Julian (361-363). The bones of the saint were burnt and dispersed, but some monks collected the remains, and took them to Jerusalem, whence, during the episcopate of Athanasius (i.e. before 373), they arrived in Alexandria: Rufinus, Church History 11.28, see E04543. Rufinus' story suggests that the tomb in Sebaste was left empty, but Jerome, who mentions it also in his Commentary on Hosea 1.1 (E05274) and in his Commentary on Micah (E05278), evidently assumes that the body of the saint is still there.
This is the only holy site where Jerome describes specific cult activity: here the possessed rage before the graves of the saints, presumably having gone there in hope of a cure. Jerome writes in the plural of the graves of the saints (sepulchra sanctorum), suggesting that it was not just at the grave of the Baptist that the possessed assembled.
Bibliography
Edition:Hilberg, I., Hieronymus, Epistulae 71-120 (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 55; Vienna, 1996).
Translation and commentary:
Cain, A., Jerome's Epitaph on Paula: A Commentary on the Epitaphium Sanctae Paulae (Oxford, 2013).
Philip Polcar
10/09/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00020 | John the Baptist | Iohannes Baptista | Certain | S00239 | Elisha, Old Testament prophet | Heliseus | Certain | S01420 | Obadiah, Old Testament prophet | Abdias | Certain |
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