Eustochium

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Luca Signorelli - St. Hieronymus with the hll. Paula and Eustochium (around 1500)
Francisco de Zurbarán - St. Jerome with the hll. Paula and Eustochium (around 1640)
Jan Hovaert - St. Hieronymus with the hll. Paula and Eustochium and St. Marcella (around 1650)

Julia Eustochia or just Eustochium (* around 368 in Rome ; † September 28, 419 or 420 in Bethlehem ), born as Julia of Rome , was a consecrated virgin of the early Church. Her feast day in the Catholic and Orthodox Church is September 28th.

Vita

Eustochium was one of the four children of St. Paula and the Roman Senator Toxotius. After the death of her husband, Paula and her daughter Eustochium lived a secluded life in the manner of the desert fathers .

When the church father Jerome returned from a trip from Palestine in 382 , he became her spiritual companion. Hymettius, an uncle of Eustochium, and his wife Praetextata tried in vain to induce the young woman to give up the seclusion and to turn to worldly pleasures. Around the year 384 she solemnly vowed a virgin life for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. On this occasion, St. Hieronymus wrote his famous letter De custodia virginitatis to her . A year later - after the tragic death of Eustochium's sister Blaesilla - Hieronymus returned to Palestine, where Paula and Eustochium followed him a little later. In 386 they accompanied him on his journey to Egypt , where they visited the hermits of the Sketan Desert to learn more about their way of life and to be able to take over some of it for themselves. They returned to Palestine in the autumn of the same year and settled permanently in Bethlehem .

Paula and Eustochium immediately began building four monasteries and a hospice near the birthplace of Christ . During the construction of the monasteries, they lived in a small house in the neighborhood. One of the monasteries was occupied by monks and placed under the direction of Jerome. The other three were settled by Paula, Eustochium, and the numerous consecrated virgins who had joined them.

The three women's communities that are under the supervision of St. Paula were subject had a common chapel , all sisters several times a day to the common Divine met. It is said of Hieronymus that Paula and Eustochium also did the lowest work. However, they spent most of their time studying spiritual scriptures under the guidance of Jerome. Eustochium was fluent in Latin and Greek and could read Hebrew texts. Many of Jerome's commentaries have survived thanks to the work of Eustochium. He himself dedicated his commentaries on the books of the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel to her .

The letters that Jerome wrote for the spiritual instruction of Eustochium are, as he himself wrote, very numerous. After Paula's death in 404, Eustochium took over the leadership of the women's communities. This was not an easy task as the women were now impoverished because of the copious handouts Paula had given. St. Hieronymus also proved to be a helpful and clever advisor here.

In 417, the monasteries in Bethlehem were attacked by violent criminals who burned one of them, torturing and killing many of the virgins in the process. This act of violence may have been instigated by John II , the Patriarch of Jerusalem , and representatives of Pelagianism , who had previously been criticized by Jerome. Jerome and Eustochium turned to Pope Innocent I , who condemned the patriarch sharply for allowing this act.

Eustochium died shortly afterwards. Her successor as head of the women's community was her niece, Paula the younger . It is believed that St. Eustochius of Tours was a nephew of Eustochian; their broader relatives may include St. Perpetua and St. Volusianus .

Adoration

Julia Eustochia or Eustochium is only rarely venerated; no church is consecrated to her.

presentation

Medieval representations of the saints are not known. Since the beginning of the Italian Renaissance (around 1400) there have been isolated portraits, although group pictures with St. Jerome and St. Paula predominate.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Eustochium  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. St. Eustochium Julia. In: Catholic Encyclopedia . New York 1913.
  2. ^ De viris illustribus , cap. cxxxv