death_date death_place birth_place feast_day venerated_in birth_date article_title name
c. 420 bethlehem rome 28 september roman catholic church c. 368 eustochium
 saint eustochium
eustochium

saint eustochium -lrb- ca. 368 -- september 28 , 419 or 420 -rrb- .
born `` eustochium julia '' at rome , she was the daughter of saint paula and is also venerated as a saint and was an early desert mother .
she was the third of four daughters of the roman senator toxotius , for whom jerome made a lot of fanciful claims of ancestry .
after the death of her husband -lrb- ca. 380 -rrb- paula and her daughter eustochium lived in rome as austere a life as the fathers of the desert .
eustochium has three sisters , st. blaesilla , paulina , and rufina , and a brother , toxotius .
when saint jerome came to rome from palestine in 382 , they put themselves under his spiritual guidance .
hymettius , an uncle of eustochium , and his wife praetextata tried to persuade the youthful eustochium to give up her austere life and enjoy the pleasures of the world , but all their attempts were futile .
about the year 384 she made a vow of perpetual virginity , on which occasion st. jerome addressed to her his celebrated letter `` de custodia virginitatis '' -lrb- ep .
xxii in `` p.l. , '' xxii , 394-425 -rrb- .
a year later st. jerome returned to palestine and soon after was followed to the orient by paula and eustochium .
in 386 they accompanied jerome on his journey to egypt , where they visited the hermits of the nitrian desert in order to study and afterward imitate their mode of life .
in the fall of the same year they returned to palestine and settled permanently at bethlehem .
paula and eustochium at once began to erect four monasteries and a hospice near the spot where christ was born .
while the erection of the monasteries was in process -lrb- 386-9 -rrb- they lived in a small building in the neighbourhood .
one of the monasteries was occupied by monks and put under the direction of saint jerome .
the three other monasteries were taken by paula and eustochium and the numerous virgins that flocked around them .
the three convents , which were under the supervision of paula , had only one oratory , where all the virgins met several times daily for prayer and the liturgy of the hours .
jerome testifies -lrb- ep .
308 -rrb- that eustochium and paula performed the most menial services .
much of their time they spent in the study of holy scripture under the direction of saint jerome .
eustochium spoke latin and classical greek with equal ease and was able to read the holy scriptures in the hebrew text .
many of jerome 's biblical commentaries owe their existence to her influence and to her he dedicated his commentaries on the prophets isaias and ezekiel .
the letters which saint jerome wrote for her instruction and spiritual advancement are , according to his own testimony , very numerous .
after the death of paula in 404 , eustochium assumed the direction of the nunneries .
her task was a difficult one on account of the impoverished condition of the temporal affairs which was brought about by the lavish almsgiving of paula .
jerome was of great assistance to her by his encouragement and prudent advice .
in 417 , a crowd of ruffians attacked and pillaged the monasteries of bethlehem , destroyed one of them by fire , besides killing and maltreating some of the residents .
it is alleged that this was instigated by john ii , the patriarch of jerusalem and the pelagians against whom jerome had written what were considered sharp polemics .
both st. jerome and st. eustochium informed pope innocent i by letter of the occurrence , who severely reproved the patriarch for having permitted the outrage .
eustochium died shortly after and was succeeded in the supervision of the convents by her niece , the younger paula .
saint eustochius of tour might have been her nephew , and further lateral descendants may include saint perpetuus and saint volusianus .
the church celebrates her feast on 28 september .
