1 ad Eustoch. $ 6. p. 54. scr. ad Paulin. She had by him one son and four daughters, the eldest of A. D. 382. whom (named Blesilla after her grandmother) was a wife but seven months', as St. Marcella had been, and became a 1 Ep. 22. widow at the age of twenty. Whilst St. Jerome was at A. D. 383.] [18. scr. Rome, he explained to her the Book of Ecclesiastes, in order to inspire her with a contempt of the world. She desired him Ep.25. [22. to give a short commentary upon it, that she might under- A. D. 384.] stand it in his absence; but as he was preparing for this undertaking, she was seized with a violent fever of which she Paul. et died in a short time. St. Paula her mother was extremely ad Eccl. to.ii.p.713.] afflicted at her death, and St. Jerome wrote a consolatory letter to her upon it, in which he mentions that Blesilla spoke Greek as well as Latin, that she had even learnt Hebrew in a very short time, and that the Holy Scriptures were never out of her hands. Eust.[Præf. to. 4. ps. 1. p. 244. scr. A.D.394-5.] 4 eund. p. 229. scr. init. (and 6 Xenodo St. Paula's second daughter was named Paulina, and was married to Pammachius, a cousin of St. Marcella, of the family Ep.52. [31. of the Furii', who reckoned several Consuls amongst his ancestors. He had been long acquainted with St. Jerome, who ad Pam. had formerly been his fellow-student', and had since addressed Ep. 26. [54. several of his works to him. Paulina dying first, and Pamma- P. 584.] ad chius finding himself a widower without children, devoted him- $Ep.50. [30. self entirely to the service of God, and to good works, choosing A.D.394-5.] a solitary life, and disposing of his riches for the subsistence of ad Pam. ad the poor, and particularly of strangers, in an hospital which he Ep.26. [54. p. 586.]) founded at Porto' near Rome. St. Paula's third daughter, who always lived with her and continued a virgin, was named chium. Eustochium. The fourth was Ruffina, who afterwards married Alethius of the rank of the Clarissimi. As for the son of Ep.26. [54. St. Paula, who was the youngest of her children, he was named Pamm. Toxotius from his father; he married Læta the daughter of Albinus, who was a Pagan and High-Priest of the idols, but was Ep.7. [57. converted to the Christian religion in his old age, by the per- A. D. 398.] suasion of his daughter and his son-in-law. The offspring of ad Lætam. this marriage of Toxotius and Læta, was the younger Paula, concerning whom St. Jerome wrote to Læta, who was then a widow, and sent her directions for educating in a Christian manner. Such was the family of St. Paula. St. Jerome has likewise left us encomiums upon two widows, Lea and Fabiola, and upon the virgin Asella. Lea was at 10 E ' Portus Romanus. p. 590. scr. Ep.24. [20 A. D. 384.] p. 51. scr. ad Marcell. A. D. 392. the head of a Monastery of virgins, whom she instructed more by her example than by her words. She used to spend the nights in prayer; her clothes and food were very mean, though at the same time free from ostentation; she was so humble, that she appeared to be the servant of all the rest, though she formerly had been mistress of a great number of slaves. The Church honours her memory on the twenty'Ep.24.[20. second of March. The news of her death' was brought to ser. A. D. St. Jerome one morning as he was explaining the seventysecond Psalm to St. Marcella, which occasioned his sending Vulg. aliter her eulogy to the latter; and two days after he sent her that Psalm 73] of St. Asella', (sister to Marcella,) who was still living. 3 Ep. 15. [21.] ad eand. 384.] ad Marcell. 2 i. e. in Rom. She had been consecrated to God from the age of ten years, and at the age of twelve she retired into a cell where she lay on the ground, living upon bread and water, fasting all the year, and being often two or three days without eating, and in Lent whole weeks together. She was now fifty years of age, and her austerities had not impaired her health. She used to work with her hands, and never went abroad unless it were to visit the churches of the Martyrs, and that too.she did without being seen. She had never spoken to any man, and even her sister could hardly ever see her. Her life was simple and regular, and in the midst of Rome she led a life of perfect Martyrol. solitude. The Church' celebrates her memory on the sixth of December. Fabiola' was of the illustrious Fabian family. She had married a man, whose behaviour was so disorderly, that ad Ocean- being unable to bear with him, she left him, and at that time being very young, she availed herself of the liberty which was allowed by the Civil Law, and married another man". After the death of this second husband, she began to reflect within herself, and knowing that this marriage was contrary to the laws of the Gospel, she resolved to do public penance for it; so on Easter-eve she went to the Basilica Lateranensis with the other penitents, and appearing there with her hair dishevelled and in the same condition with the rest, she drew tears from the eyes of the Bishop, the Priests, and the people. She then remained without the church, till the Bishop, by whom she had been excommunicated, called her in again. After Ep.30. [84. scr. circ. A. D. 400.] um. u See Cod. Thcod. iii. Tit. xvi. 11. 1. 2. μεῖον. this she sold all her estate, and was the first who erected an A. D. 392. hospital' for the sick in Rome, where she attended on them' voσokowith her own hands. She bestowed large gifts on the clerks, monks, and virgins, not only in Rome, but upon the coast of Tuscany where there were already many monasteries. It is thought, and not without reason, that the liberality of these Roman ladies, and other rich Christians, brought a great number of mendicants to Rome, and it is said that there was a decree made on this account by Valentinian the younger, and directed to the Præfect of Rome in the year 382, in Cod. which he requires that their age and strength be enquired tit. 18. into, that the disabled might be provided for; but as for the strong, they were to be delivered up to the informer if they were of servile extraction, and if they were free, they were to be compelled to cultivate the ground. The Saints likewise s. Ambros. were always of opinion, that there should be a distinction de Off. ii. made in the distribution of alms, so as not to encourage the P. 88. idleness and avarice of vagabonds, to the prejudice of those who were really poor. Theod. xiv. c. 16. to. 2. 2 XXII. Letters of Apollin aris. St. Epiphanius and Paulinus of Antioch having passed the winter at Rome, returned into the East, the following year, Damasus 383. They travelled through Macedonia, and came to Thes- against salonica, where the Bishop was changed that same year, by the death of St. Ascholius; and the Bishops of Macedonia and the Clergy of Thessalonica wrote to St. Ambrose about it, who in his answer made an encomium upon St. Ascholius', Ep. S. and congratulated them upon the election of Anysius, his ser. A. D. disciple, whom they had chosen to succeed him. He wrote Ibid. xvi. also to Anysius, exhorting him to imitate the virtues of his scr. eod. predecessor. The Pope St. Damasus3 gave to Anysius, as he had done to St. Ascholius', the power of cognizance of all things in the Eastern Illyricum. Paulinus of Antioch was at Thessalonica, St. Damasus This is another instance of what has been before noticed, namely, that the Political division of the Empire did not necessarily regulate the Ecclesiastical. In A. D. 379, Gratian severed Eastern Illyricum (of which the metropolis was Thessalonica) from the Western Empire; and in consequence we find that St. Ascholius was present X Ambr. xv. 383. temp. 3 Epist. Intaking nocent Lad While ser. A. D. Anysium. 402. 4 Ep. Ejusd. ad Rufum. (xiii. at the Council of Constantinople. To Coust.)§ 2. 66 A. D. 382. wrote a letter to him, which begins in these terms: "I had "already written to you by my son Vitalis, that I committed all "things to your judgment; therefore to the intent that you may "have no difficulty in receiving those who are willing to re-unite "themselves to the Church, we send you a confession of our "Faith, not so much for yourself who believe as we do, as for "those who would join themselves to you. There was, then, "after the Council of Nicæa", and that which was held at "Rome by the Catholic Bishops, something added concerning "the Holy Ghost, because some persons have lately said that "He was created by the Son. Therefore we pronounce Ana"thema against those who do not declare plainly, that the 'Holy Ghost hath the same power and the same substance "with the Father and the Son. We pronounce Anathema "against the Sabellians, who say that the Father is the same "with the Son; against Arius and Eunomius, who alike assert, though in different terms, that the Son and the 'Holy Ghost are Creatures; against the Macedonians, who come from Arius under another name; against Photinus, "who reviving the heresy of Ebion upholds that our Lord "Jesus Christ is come from the Virgin Mary only against "those who say that there are two Sons, one before all "worlds, and the other after the Incarnation." There is Anathema pronounced afterwards against Apollinaris, and Marcellus of Ancyra, without naming them; then there is a Canon likewise against translations from one See to another, a practice then so common in the East. Then the Anathemas are continued against various propositions of the Arians and Macedonians. The last forbids any one to mention the word God in the plural number in speaking of the Divine persons, though the Scripture applies it sometimes to Angels, and holy men. St. Damasus afterwards continues, This Letter is referred to A. D. 378, by Coustant. p. 507. y Vitalis was an Apollinarian. On the condemnation of Apollinaris and Timotheus (in their absence) at Rome, A. D. 377, he seems to have gone or been sent thither, and presented an ambiguous formula of Faith, by which he imposed upon Damasus. The Pope, suspecting that he had been deceived, requires Paulinus in this letter to oblige Vitalis to subscribe an explicit confession of Faith (which he sends) before receiving him to Communion. 66 2 The original requires the following translation, After the Council of "Nicæa, the Catholic Bishops assembled "in Council at Rome (sc. A. D. 378.) "made certain additions concerning the "Holy Ghost." See Epist. 4. Damas. § 4. Coustant. p. 499. 66 speaking to Paulinus: "Therefore if my son Vitalis, and A. D. 382. "those who are with him, wish to be united to you, they "must first subscribe to the Faith of Nicæa; and then, "because we cannot apply a remedy to future evils, you "must root out the heresy which is said to have lately "appeared in the East, and confess that the very Wisdom, "the Word, the Son of God, hath taken upon Him the "human Body, the Soul and Reason, that is to say, the "entire Adam, all our old man, without sin. For as, when "we confess that He hath taken upon Him a human Body, "we do not therefore attribute human passions to Him; so "when we say that He hath taken the Soul and Reason of man, we do not mean that He is subject to the sin, which "proceeds from the thoughts." We here see that the error of Apollinaris was plainly known, and condemned at Rome; but that Vitalis was not yet convicted of being infected with it, though he was suspected'; on the contrary, he had St. Greg. delivered a confession of Faith to the Pope Damasus, which Naz. Ep.52. appeared orthodox, and the Pope sent him to Paulinus in p.94. C. scr. order to be examined, and his opinions clearly ascertained. To the same time is referred a letter written by the Pope St. Damasus to the Eastern Bishops, which begins thus: "When you pay the respect which is due to the Apostolic St. Damas. "See, all the chief advantage of it is to yourselves, my most § 13.] "honoured sons." Then he declares that he has long before condemned3 Timotheus and his master Apollinaris, in presence ['A.D.377.] of Peter Bishop of Alexandria, and that there was no ground for desiring him to be deposed a second time. He therefore exhorts them to continue steadfast in the Faith of Nicæa, and not to suffer those who are under their care to give ear to vain discourses, and questions which had been already resolved. [102. to. 2. A.D. 382.] 2 Theod. v. 10. [fors. A. D. 384. Tillemont. XXIII. Treatise of It was much about this time, that St. Ambrose wrote his Treatise on the Mystery of the Incarnation, against the same St. AmHe was engaged in it by two cubicularii or the Incar errors'. brose on nation. chamberlains of the Emperor Gratian, who were Arians. [A.D.382. They proposed to him, as he was preaching, a question con- Tille. to. x. cerning the Incarnation of our Saviour, and promised to come $ 29.] a See Notitia Dig. Pancirol. ap. Græv. tom. vii. p. 1491. S. Ambr. 5 Paulin. Vit. S. Amb. § 18. |