Paula of Rome

Saint Paula of Rome was born in AD 347 into one of the Empire’s wealthiest senatorial families. Married at sixteen to the nobleman Toxotius, she became the mother of five children and for many years lived amid the comforts and honors of Roman society. Widowed at thirty-two, Paula’s heart turned more fully to Christ. Drawn into a circle of devout women in Rome, she embraced a more disciplined Christian life and, in 382, met Saint Jerome, whose guidance would shape her vocation. With Jerome and her daughter Eustochium, Paula set out on pilgrimage through the Holy Land and Egypt, visiting monks and ascetics and deepening her love for Scripture and prayer. She eventually settled in Bethlehem, where she founded a convent for women, a monastery for men, and a hospice for pilgrims. As abbess, she combined learning with austerity, studying the Bible intensely and practicing fasting and generous charity—so lavish that her fortune was spent in service of God’s people. Paula is venerated as an early Desert Mother and patron of the Order of Saint Jerome. Her feast day is January 26.