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Letter 22 to Eustochium

by Saint Jerome

St. Jerome's most famous letter (Libellus de virginitate servanda), written to St. Eustochium, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the Roman widow St. Paula. St. Jerome exhorts St. Eustochium to embrace virginity and teaches her the proper conduct of a young woman. It contains his: 1. view that God, though omnipotent, cannot restore a fallen virgin (§5) 2. vivid description of fasting and temptation (§7) 3. view of abortion, that it is murder (§13) 4. term superbiam sanctam, virginity a "holy pride" (§16) 5. praise of wedlock, that it gives him virgins (§20) 6. further reading recommendations on virginity (§22) 7. "Do you read? He [God] speaks to you." (§25) 8. dream where the Judge condemns him a Ciceronian, not a Christian (§30) 9. description of the three types of monasticism (§§34-36) - Summary by Geremia