Jerome's epitaph on Paula
Subtitle: a commentary on the Epitaphium Sanctae Paulae
By: edited with an introduction and translation by Andrew Cain
Contributors: Cain, Andrew, translator, editor; Jerome, Saint, -419 or 420
Series: Oxford early Christian texts
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Oxford
Language: eng; lat
Number of pages: 569
ISBN-13: 9780199672608
Subjects: Criticism and interpretation
Work titles: Epitaphium Sanctae Paulae
Description: "Jerome's Epitaph on Saint Paula (Epitaphium Sanctae Paulae) is one of the most famous writings by one of the most prolific authors in all of Latin antiquity. Composed in 404, it is an elaborate eulogy commemorating the life of Paula (347-404), a wealthy Christian widow from Rome who renounced her senatorial status and embraced a lifestyle of ascetic self-discipline and voluntary poverty. She used her vast inherited fortune to fund various charitable causes and to co-found with Jerome, in 386, a monastic complex in Bethlehem which was equipped with a hostelry for Christian pilgrims. The Epitaphium is one of the core primary texts on female spirituality (both real and idealized) in Late Antiquity, and it also is one of Jerome's crowning literary achievements, yet until now it has not received the depth of scholarly analysis that only a proper commentary can afford. This book presents the first full-scale commentary on this monumental work in any language. Cain accesses a very extensive array of ancient sources to fully contextualize the Epitaphium and he comprehensively addresses stylistic, literary, historical, topographical, theological, text-critical and other issues of interpretive interest, including relevant matters of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin philology. Considerable effort also is expended on extricating the elusive Paula of history from the sticky web of Jerome's idealized hagiographic construct of her. Accompanying the commentary is an introduction which situates the Epitaphium in the broader context of its author's life and work and exposes its various propagandistic dimensions"--
Notes: This letter was previously published in the Nicene and post-Nicene fathers, Series II, Volume 6, pages 195-212 as St. Jerome's Epistle 108. See page 39.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 495-523) and indexes.

Parallel Latin text with English translation; commentary and editorial matter in English.