My last blog told the story of five women martyrs of the first three centuries of the Christian Church. In this post, I explained how I bought a book on 2,000 years of church history and only 7.8% of the people mentioned in the book were women, and I wondered why that should be. Throughout the church’s history, many women worked alongside their fellow male Christians as evangelists, teachers, prophets, and church leaders. Unfortunately, many of their stories have been forgotten. I wish to address this imbalance and this post will examine the women who were theologians and Bible translators.

Marcella of Rome (325 – 410)

Marcella was a fourth-century Biblical scholar and translator. She was born into a wealthy and well-connected Roman family and was married off when young to an older man who died within a year. Defying expectations she would remarry to an equally wealthy second husband, she gave up her wealth and dedicated herself to God. There was no precedent for this; no other high-born Roman woman had done this before, and she was the first.

Leaving her wealthy clothes behind, she dressed in a plain brown garment more suited to a washerwoman. Over time, other women joined her and became known as the Brown Dress Society. Vowing to stay single and celibate, they dedicated themselves to prayer, charity and study. Her home on the Aventine Hill, a most desirable address, became a refuge for the poor, and a community for scholars. One of which was Jerome, who stayed for three years.

Pope Damasus I hired Jerome to translate the Gospels into Latin, and he later translated the entire Bible. Marcella’s extensive knowledge of Greek and Latin made her a valuable critic and editor as Jerome embarked on his life’s work of translating the Bible into Latin from the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. (1)

Jerome later said of her, “She proposed questions from the opposite viewpoint, not for the sake of being contentious, but so that by asking, she might learn solutions for points she perceived could be raised in objection … what cleverness.” (2)

When Jerome returned to Jerusalem, Marcella became his spokesperson in Rome, and people would go to her to ask questions. Including Pope Anastasius I, who consulted Marcella about the teachings of Origen. He had not read his work and wanted her opinions of him before condemning his teachings.

She had to be very careful because many men would not accept the opinions and interpretations of a woman, so she said that she spoke the words of Jerome, and was only saying what she had heard or read. As I have read more about women throughout church history, I have been struck by how many generations of women had to repeat the same in order to defend themselves and be heard. But don’t we all teach what we have either heard or read in a book?

Marcella lived a monastic and ascetic life, renouncing all luxury and comforts, as did her followers. In 410, the Visigoths sacked Rome, and she was beaten when she denied that there were valuables in the house and died the following day, at the age of eighty-five. (3)

Paula (347 – 404) and Eustochium (368 -419 or 420)

From a wealthy Roman family, Paula was a widow and part of Marcella’s group dedicated to prayer, service and Bible study. It was at Marcella’s home that she met Jerome when she was 35 years of age. Like Jerome, they were both interested in languages, translation and theology, and he enlisted her to help him with his translation work. (4)

Paula used her vast wealth to fund work with the poor and build monasteries, as well as funding Jerome’s translation work. When Jerome left for the Holy Land, he asked her to follow him and she later did so, accompanied by her daughter Eustochium. After touring the Biblical sites, they settled in Bethlehem, where she established a monastery for women, which soon drew many young women to her.

Jerome made copies of his replies to letters sent to him from Paula and Marcella, but unfortunately, he did not preserve their letters to him, and we do not hear their voices. He writes of Paula, “She wished to learn Hebrew -which I learned imperfectly in my youth … she mastered it so thoroughly that she could sing the Psalms in Hebrew and enunciate her words without the faintest trace of a Latin accent.” (5)

Jerome’s life work was to translate the Bible from the original languages into Latin. He would take over two decades to write this translation, called the Vulgate, meaning the common version, completed in 405, a year after Paula’s death. Paula paid his expenses and supplied the expensive manuscripts and materials he needed. Within the convents and monasteries, Paula and the other women copied the manuscripts to preserve and facilitate their spread. A work that nuns and monks would continue to do for over a thousand years. (6)

Paula was more than simply his financial support but shared his translation work. Being a Greek and Hebrew speaker, she had the perfect qualifications to assist him in everything, including leading the translator teams and making linguistic edits. (7) He later dedicated many of the translated Bible books to her. Critics later condemned him for dedicating them to a woman, but he responded. “These people do not know that while Barak trembled, Deborah saved Israel; that Esther delivered from supreme peril the children of God … Is it not to women that our Lord appeared after his resurrection? Yes, and the men could then blush for not having sought what women had found.” (8)

Paula died at the age of 56 and was buried in a cave in Bethlehem. Fifteen years later, Jerome died and was buried near his friend, Paula.

Conclusion

Jerome’s Latin Vulgate Bible would be the most commonly used Bible for over a thousand years. But even today, people have all but forgotten the involvement of Marcella, Paula, and Eustochium. The Roman Catholic edition of Today’s English version of the Bible, which is advertised as St Jerome’s Bible, does not mention Paula in its lengthy introduction. (9)

We do not know the extent of their contribution, but I wonder how different the words used for hundreds of years would be without these women. It took many centuries, but now most modern Bible translations include at least a few women translators on their teams. For a list of women translators on various modern English language Bibles, read Marg Mowczko’s Female Bible Translators (10).

Next month’s blog will examine women leaders of the Early Church.

Jan Hovaert, St. Jerome Together With His Disciples St. Marcella, St. Paula and St. Eustochim. Church of Saint Magdalene, Genoa

Marcella proposed questions from the opposite viewpoint, not for the sake of being contentious, but so that by asking, she might learn solutions for points she perceived could be raised in objection … what cleverness.

Jerome 

Engraving from Diodore Rahoult, Italy 1886

Saint Jerome with Saint Paula and Saint Eustochium by Francisco de Zurbaran National Gallery of Art, Washington

Paula wished to learn Hebrew -which I learned imperfectly in my youth … she mastered it so thoroughly that she could sing the Psalms in Hebrew and enunciate her words without the faintest trace of a Latin accent. Jerome  

These people do not know that while Barak trembled, Deborah saved Israel; that Esther delivered from supreme peril the children of God … Is it not to women that our Lord appeared after his resurrection? Yes, and the men could then blush for not having sought what women had found. Jerome

Saints Eustochiom, Paula, Jerome and Eusebius of Cermona in Jerome’s Bethlehem Cave Photo by Don Knebel