Yesterday, in one of the tightest matches in Lent Madness history, Pandita Ramabai snuck past Damien of Molokai despite a virtual dead heat. With over 8,500 votes cast, she won by a mere 45 votes. She'll square off against Marguerite d'Youville in the Saintly Sixteen. Close observers of this tight contest watched as Pandita staked out a slim early lead, watched as Damien came storming back as the Hawaiians woke up -- literally -- because of the time difference, and then Pandita's enthusiastic advocates tipped the scales. Whew!
Today, it's the Battle of Rome as contemporaries Paula of Rome and Marcella of Rome clash for the exclusive right to claim Rome as their own. Who will end up as queen of the Eternal City? You won't have to wait an eternity to find out, but a mere 24 hours.
And in case you missed yesterday's edition of Monday Madness, why not watch it right now? You'll be reminded of why Tim and Scott are serious when they claim each episode is never rehearsed and always done in a single take. Also, they share the stunning (and true) news that this week we have passed the 5 millionth page view in Lent Madness history. Not bad for a mom-and-pop online Lenten devotion.
Paula of Rome
Paula of Rome was a wealthy woman purportedly descended from the line of Agamemnon, the Greek king during the Trojan War. When she was 16, she married a nobleman named Toxotius, and they had five children. In her youth, Paula lived extravagantly. She wore lavish silks procured from the finest markets in China. When she traveled around the city streets, a cluster of eunuch slaves carried her.
When Paula was in her thirties, Toxotius died. Then five years later, one of her daughters died. Paula’s grief was so great that she nearly died herself. Inspired by the faith and action of her contemporary Marcella, Paula opened her palace to the needy and set upon a life dedicated to God. She met Saint Jerome, who later described the “earnestness of her prayers, the brilliancy of her conversation, the tenacity of her memory, and the quickness of her intellect.” Paula and her daughter Eustochium joined Jerome on a pilgrimage from the bustling city of Rome to the Holy Land and Egypt. Paula settled in Bethlehem and built four monasteries, one for men and the other for women. She fasted, abstained, and lived a destitute life in order to focus on God, spending the rest of her years giving away her vast fortune to the poor.
Paula and Jerome continued working together. Jerome was commissioned to revise the Old Latin Gospels. Paula encouraged Jerome to expand the job and translate most of the books of the Bible into Latin. She provided him with resources for the translation, suggested revisions, and edited the manuscripts. The women of the convents served as scribes, making copies of this groundbreaking work, which became known as the Vulgate, the first translation of the Old Testament directly from Hebrew to Latin (rather than from Hebrew to Greek to Latin). In the sixteenth century, the Roman Catholic Church affirmed the Vulgate as its official Latin Bible, and it remained the standard until 1979.
Some have speculated about the extent of the relationship between Jerome and Paula. Yet Jerome’s words about his friend offer important insight to her life’s work. He wrote that Paula continued to practice a life of poverty and ascetic devotion in order “to preserve a singular attachment to God.”
Collect for Paula of Rome
Compel us, O God, to attend diligently to your Word, as your faithful servant Paula, that, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we may find it profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness; and that thereby we may be made wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Marcella of Rome
Marcella of Rome was born in 325 ce in Rome to wealthy parents. Her father died while she was still young. Her mother, Albina, continued to be an important influence, modeling kindness and care for those who were vulnerable. One of the more noteworthy guests to their home was Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, during one of his many exiles. Upon his departure he gave Marcella a copy of his Life of Antony, a gift that would deeply inform Marcella’s life.
As a prominent noblewoman in Rome, Marcella married a wealthy aristocrat. He died just seven months after their marriage. Shortly thereafter, to the chagrin of her mother, Marcella rejected the marriage offer of an older Roman consul and took on the life of an ascetic. She wore simple clothes and abstained from meat. She regularly fasted and avoided excessive wine. She turned her estate into a place of refuge for those who were poor and vulnerable. As Saint Jerome so aptly wrote, Marcella chose “to store her money in the stomachs of the poor rather than to keep it at her disposal.” The community in her home came to be known as the Brown Dress Society, on account of their simple and unadorned attire.
Although education was not commmon for women in that time, Marcella also became a student of the scriptures, reading them in both Hebrew and Greek. Jerome, the famed translator of the Vulgate and one of our best sources on Marcella’s life, clearly thought the world of her and deeply respected her intellect. She is described as a keen mind who would, in spite of social pressures to be a silent woman, engage in rigorous theological debate.
In 410 when the Visigoths sacked Rome, they ravaged wealthy homes; those with money could pay for their survival. The Visigoths approached Marcella’s large estate and were incredulous when she informed them that she had no money. They beat her mercilessly. She was transferred to the Basilica of St. Paul and died there of her wounds.
Collect for Marcella of Rome
O God, who satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry with good things: Grant that we, like your servant Marcella, may hunger and thirst after you more than the vain pomp and glory of the world and delight in your word more than all manner of riches. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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149 comments on “Paula of Rome vs. Marcella of Rome”
My husband had an aunt named Marcella, soooo, in her honor. Marcella!
I don't think Paula's collect lives up to her example. Marcella's collect is far more inspiring. However, because Paula has such an extraordinary second act after losing husband and child, and because Marcella's brown dresses unfortunately remind me of the strict policing of women's appearance in the churches I grew up in and around, I've voted for Paula. Two admirable women, though, for sure.
Just had to comment on this one because I love both of these women - they were central to the paper I wrote on the "virago" (women who literally "become men" through their saintly virtue -- oh, Jerome, you problematical polemicist!) in Christian thought.
Nearly voted for Paula because of the way she stood up to Jerome, but finally picked Marcella because I yearn for her virtues (I'm already mouthy and strong-willed enough, thank you Paula)
"She stored her wealth in the stomachs of the poor". What more needs to be said.
Smiling over "Mom and Pop Lenten devotion" this morning. Glad for you. I've followed this Saints-thing for several years and always look forward to its return. Thank you. Carry on! Jan C.
If there's a feminine member of the Trinity, it's the Logos, which by John's time was identified with Lady Wisdom of Proverbs and Wisdom. And Jesus went out of his way to associate himself with Lady Wisdom's attributes, too.
But, given that the SEC consists of 2 men, shouldn't it be "pop and pop?"
Both inspirational ladies. Marcella for me.
This is why I love Lent Madness: obscure gems of history. " [Paula] provided [Jerome] with resources for the translation, suggested revisions, and edited the manuscripts. The women of the convents served as scribes, making copies of this groundbreaking work, which became known as the Vulgate, the first translation of the Old Testament directly from Hebrew to Latin (rather than from Hebrew to Greek to Latin)." It seems to me that this is evidence of a woman actually making a major contribution to what has become the canonical Bible. Think about the subtext of "suggesting revisions" and "editing." When he got it wrong, she fixed it. Wow. For example, there was long and heated early debate about how to understand and translate just one word/concept into Greek ("being of one substance"= Trinity as milk shake or parfait?) How was that translated? Clearly editing and revising was huge.
Love them both but went with Paula because she put up the coin so that the Vulgate could be translated.
My only unbroken bracket so far, and I've gone with Paula. What a hard decision this was, and the sway for me became Paula's influence on the Vulgate. I want them both to win.
Can I trade my vote in toward a recount for St. Damien??? Please??? If not, as a former proofreader, I'll go with Paula in this coin-toss matchup. (Who am I kidding? Once a proofreader, always a proofreader!)
In mid-Pacific a tremulous murmur runs through the earth:
"damien, damien, Damien, Damien, DAMIEN, DAMIEN…"
Madame Pele is gonna have a word with some mainland friends about a certain election result…
If Paula isn't already the patron saint of editors, she should be.
Can we give Damien a new life instead of either of these two? Neither would survive a round with either of yesterday's contenders.....
Such an almost indistinguishably similar matchup, on the heels of such a distinctive battle of worthies! I was about to flip a coin until I noted Paula's work as an editor of translations, something I do myself as part of my freelance translation work. Sister Paula, I salute your hard work sorting out other people's words - often a thankless and unrecognized task - with my vote.
A fairer match-up would have had similar photos/drawings of both!
From the bios it sounds like Marcella was an inspiration to Paula . . . "Inspired by the faith and action of her contemporary Marcella, Paula opened her palace to the needy and set upon a life dedicated to God." . . . so if Marcella had followed the more traditional path, perhaps Paula would have as well . . . One then wonders if we would have ever gotten that Vulgate Bible from Jerome. So I voted for Marcella.
Maybe the bio writers could clarify the connections between these two women?
I, too, am an editor, as a volunteer for Kiva.org which provides microfinancing for people in developing countries all over the world who want to invest in a business (or their farm). So Paula the editor of the Vulgate gets my vote! Another very close matchup, though.
My vote goes to Marcella. Without her, would Paula have chosen the path she did? Marcella was the Trail Blazer.
My vote is for Marcella. "Pressured to be a silent woman," yet, she persisted, engaging "in rigorous theological debate."
Marcella, on points. Another lost cause, I see, by a hot me) surprising margin.
Glad to see you back, Davis. Was ready to send out the St Bernard with the little keg of brandy on its collar.
Thanks so much for this!
I’m in Germany, and the time difference is inconvenient. I’m up too early to participate and then usually busy and/or without Internet until rather late in the day. Don’t know where “hot me” came from.
Oh, I see, “to me.”
Marcella has a seat at Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party"
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings/marcella
Yet Joan of Arc was mocked as an "hommasse"--a woman with a man's traits--because of her man's dress and martial activities. Hommasse was a severe term of denigration for a woman, not a rise in status at all. Damned if she does, damned if she doesn't.
So interesting!
That's amazing. Thank you. I see Paula's name in the floor beneath her place setting. "She often questioned [Jerome's] arguments and was never afraid to criticize him." I think some of the trouble I'm having with today's match-up is it feels strange to shift to Rome away from the primitive church. And it's the fallen Rome; I wonder who will sack us, even if only figuratively. I suppose these women offer some guidance for how those inhabiting a decaying empire can find strength and spiritual support to go on.
I hadn't noticed Paula's name on the Heritage floor! Thank you! Also thank you for your comment about finding strength when living in a decaying empire....
Did anyone else have trouble this morning (West Coast time) bringing up the page. I tried several times and it was not available. Fortunately this afternoon, 2:30 pm I got it.
Alas. The orange writing is on the wall. This story in the New York Times about the decade of the 1980's as a period when the US could have led the world in combating climate change and saving the planet puts to rest any residual hope that we were still a viable republic. "Decaying empire" is only too apt. The decline begins with a certain nominal leader whose name rhymes, appropriately enough, with "pagan." And now of course the looting has begun in earnest; we are sacking ourselves from within.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html
I had the same problem, Donna. I just presumed that the hordes of voters were overwhelming the LM server!
Exactly!
Tempting as it is to vote for a dinner companion of Athanasius, my vote goes to Paula for her work to ensure the translation of the bible - why isn't she better known?
Go Paula of Rome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Marcella , love storing her wealth in the stomachs of the poor, how much suffering she minimized.
No contest 🙂
Paula because of the Vulgate and in honor of editors.
I voted for Paula, the driving force behind the Vulgate. She not only fed people's bodies by spending her fortune, but also their souls.
Thank you for pointing out we do not pray to the saints but ask them to pray for us. And what sense it makes to ask Mary, Mother of Jesus to intercede with her Son for us!
It is so sad that the misunderstanding of this belief has caused so much criticism of the Catholic church.