The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-03-22

literary man, not q professor, like Origen, or
an orator, like Augustine, but msn to whom
LIE His formulation Of the Scriptures & model
Of tesSe anu vigoreas Latin, almost . language
by ftsetf But his. lsfssv. ,s1e tho best record
Erasmus did not hesitate to place him above
Cicero as . letter writer; and certainly it
would be difao9lty to snatch from Cicero his
and epigrammstic investiye.
The period At which st. Jerome's letters were
written is indeed one Of singular interest, for it
was the age of tho fnsl struggle between Chris
tianity and Psganism and it may also be called
the golden ago of Christian theology. We find
him at Rome about the year $50 A. c.; and al
chiefly owed his reputation to some graphic &C.
counts of monastic life which had been read in
the meetings of the literary. Christian ladies at
.ssd that Of
any man of his time, and he coon became secre-
tary to the reigning Pope |Dsmasus, and held
professor to what may be called ladies' col
lege ON the Aventine, which was under the di-
rection of the high-uinded and enthusiastic
dates from the year $40 A. c., about fifteen years
prior to the period we are now speaking of;
and some Of the early ones, written in the des-
ert, are amongst the most interesting OF the
collection. The most interesting point in q col
lection Of letters is always the character of the
correspondents, and those of Jerome were
time. Msrceiie, FsbioYa, Melania, With Paula
and her three daughters and her son, T0x0tlus,
form one of those groups with whom the writ
ings of Roman Catholics still make us familiar.
Marcella, in particular, was perhaps one of the
most striking characters to be found in religious
history; while Fabiola and the fiery young
Spaniard Melania supplied an element of ro-
nance to which there was good deal akin to
jerome himself. The Spanish Christians, in
deed, including the great Theodosius and Ho-
sius of Cordova, played a great part in those
days; and there was the national union of
hardness and enthusiasm in Melania, in which
jerome particularly delighted; for he tells us
that when she lost her husband and her two
children, she never shed q tear, bnt exclaimed,
80 shall serve thee, o Lord, more freely now
that am relieved from my burdens" The
central figures Of the group, however, were the
heads of the great zEmilian family, Paula and
Sher three daughters, Eustochium, Blesilla, and
Paulina, with the husband of the last, Pamma-
chius.
During the life of Paula's husband, Toxotius,
they had all "served the fashions of the world"
(secalo serriebant y and Pammachius was, ap-
a Jealous Christian after. his wife's death, he
was the first Roman senator who became
monk, and jerome describes, in his lively style,
ae sas Of
not ashamed to walk in his rough black dress
among the scarlet robes of the senators, and
who could meet with jests Of his own WI the ridi
Guile of his old companions" (Ep. 66)
The whole party gathered around Marcella in
her convent palace on the Aventine OF this
lady he says: will mention another Of her
achievements which will seem wonderful to
those who have made the same attempt. She
wished to learn Hebrew-which, for my own
part, have studied diligently from childhood,
and still continued to study it lest she should
leave me behind-and she so completely mas
| tered it as to sing the Psalms in Hebrew, and
without the slightest Latin accent The same
was the case with her holy child EustOchium,
who was SO devoted to her mothers every wish,
that she would scarcely leave her for a moment,
| never could eat or sleep apart from her, and re-
joiced when she saw her mother distributing
her whole property to the poor, believing that
her own love for her mother was her best
wealth and Inheritance. Nor must forget to
that her little granddaughter Paula, the child
of LRta and Toxotius, who was born, as it
were, in answer to the vows and prayers of her
very cradle, and while she still played with
her rattles, to sing the Alleluia, and to utter
the names of her aunt and grandmother in her
which she retained to the last for her country,
that she might know that her son and his wife
and their daughter had left the world, and be-
come servants of Christ In part she had her
wish. For her granddaughter is reserved to be
the bride of Christ, her daughter-in-law has
now devoted herself to o single life (apart from
her husband her mother-in-law is following
her at Rome in those works of faith and charity
which she herself has ended at Jerusalem"
The monastic spirit is strong in all this, rs 1t
is in every letter of St. Jerome's; but the mon
astic spirit was needed at the time, and, indeed,
for many an age, to keep alive the fire of Chris
tianity; and It would only be but q narrow
ton of feeling, and the high sense of duty
| which has inspired such characters as those Of
Paula and Marcella.
As became the greatest commentator of his
age, his chief interest lies in doctrine and in
the exposition of Scripture; and it is in these
respects that his statements are most valuable,
in throwing light on the religious feelings and
temper of his time in a way which would sur
prise those who look for nothing but "blind
bigotry" in Father"
THE SHADOWS OF LIFE,-The shadows of the
mind are like those of the body. In the morn
ing of life they all lie behind US; at noon, we
| trample them under foot, and in the evening