Marcella (325–410) is a
saint
In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...
in the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and
Orthodox Church. She was a
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
ascetic in the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
era.
''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' reports, "She suffered bodily ill-treatment at the hands of the
Goths when they captured Rome in 410 and died from its effects." She is commemorated on 31 January.
Biography
She came from a noble family who lived in a palace on the
Aventine Hill
The Aventine Hill (; ; ) is one of the Seven Hills on which ancient Rome was built. It belongs to Ripa, the modern twelfth ''rione'', or ward, of Rome.
Location and boundaries
The Aventine Hill is the southernmost of Rome's seven hills. I ...
. Growing up in Rome, she was influenced by her pious mother, Albina, an educated woman of wealth and benevolence. Marcella was but a child when the exiled bishop
Athanasius of Alexandria
Athanasius I of Alexandria ( – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, or, among Coptic Christians, Athanasius the Apostolic, was a Christian theologian and the 20th patriarch of Alexandria (as Athanasius ...
visited Rome.
["Marcella", Epistolae]
/ref> According to Christine Schenk, she "gathered women to study Scripture and pray in her aristocratic home on the Aventine Hill fully 40 years before Jerome arrived in Rome. After Jerome returned to Jerusalem, Rome's priests would consult Marcella for help in clarifying biblical texts. She also engaged in public debate over the Originist controversy."
After her husband's early death, Marcella decided to devote the rest of her life to charity
Charity may refer to:
Common meanings
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...
, prayer
File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)''
rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...
, and mortification of the flesh
Mortification may refer to:
*Mortification (theology), theological doctrine
*Mortification of the flesh, religious practice of corporal mortification
*Mortification in Roman Catholic teaching, Roman Catholic doctrine of mortification
*Extreme emb ...
. According to Butler, "Having lost her husband in the seventh month of her marriage, she rejected the suit of Cerealis the consul, uncle of Gallus Cæsar, and resolved to imitate the lives of the ascetics of the East. She abstained from wine and flesh, employed all her time in pious reading, prayer, and visiting the churches of the apostles and martyrs, and never spoke with any man alone."
Pammachius, a close friend and correspondent of Jerome
Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome.
He is best known ...
, was her cousin. He was also a cousin of Paula of Rome
Paula of Rome (AD 347–404) was an ancient ancient Rome, Roman Christianity, Christian saint and early Desert Mothers, Desert Mother. A member of one of the richest Roman Senate, senatorial families which claimed descent from Agamemnon, Paula wa ...
. Pammachius married Paula's second daughter, Paulina
Paulina or Paullina (, ) is a common female given name Latin. Paulina was a name shared by the mother, sister, and niece of the Roman Emperor, Roman emperor Hadrian.
Paulina Major, mother of Hadrian
(Domitia) Paulina (or Paullina) Major (''Ma ...
.[Bacchus, Francis Joseph. "St. Pammachius." The Catholic Encyclopedia]
Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 13 November 2021 Marcella's palatial home became a center of Christian activity. She and her mother Albina formed a group of religious women in their home, inspired by eastern monks. Paula's third daughter, Eustochium, was part of this group. The house is supposed to have stood close to the present site of Santa Sabina
The Basilica of Saint Sabina (, ) is a historic church on the Aventine Hill in Rome, Italy. It is a titular minor basilica and mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans.
Santa Sabina is the oldest ex ...
and became a refuge for weary pilgrims and for the poor. An associate of Marcella named Lea was also a wealthy widow and supported the house run by Marcella.
In 382, Pope Damasus I
Pope Damasus I (; c. 305 – 11 December 384), also known as Damasus of Rome, was the bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death in 384. It is claimed that he presided over the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list ...
called Jerome to Rome, where he became the pope's confidential secretary. Damasus arranged lodging for him at Marcella's hospitality house. Jerome gave readings and lectures to Marcella's community and friends.[ It was at the home of Marcella that Jerome first met Paula.
When Paula and her daughter Eustochium left Rome for the Holy Land, they asked Marcella to join them, but she chose to remain in Rome to tend to her growing community. She and her student Principia moved from the palace to a smaller house on the Aventine.][Dunbar, Agnes Baillie Cunninghame. "St. Marcella", ''A Dictionary of Saintly Women'']
Volume 2, George Bell and Sons, London, 1905, p. 7]
When the Visigoths
The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...
invaded Rome in 410, the 85-year-old Marcella was brutalized. Convinced that she had hidden treasure, which she had long before distributed among the poor, she was scourged and beaten with cudgels. Other soldiers arrived who had "some reverence for holy things". They escorted Marcella and Principia to the Basilica of St. Paul, one of those which had been named by Alaric as a sanctuary for all who chose to take advantage of it.
Jerome detailed the incident in a letter to a woman named Principia who had been with Marcella during the sack.
Exhausted and injured, Marcella died of her injuries a few days later.[
]
Correspondence from Jerome
In modern collections of Jerome's letters, we find many letters to Marcella (Letters 23, 25, 26, 29, 34, 127). Almost a third of all the extant letters from Jerome were addressed to women. Thomas Lawler, notes, “Marcella is by far the woman most frequently addressed, quite likely because of her leading position in that celebrated circle of religious-minded women that met at her house on the Aventine.” Most of what we know about Marcella is from the letters of Jerome, most famously his letter 127 to Principia.[Butler, Alban. Butler's Lives of the Saints. 12 vols. Ed. David Hugh Farmer and Paul Burns. New full ed., Tunbridge Wells, UK: Burns & Oates and Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1995–2000.] It was written on the occasion of Marcella's death, paying tribute to her life and consoling her beloved student. In it, he says the following about his relationship with Marcella:
Legacy
Perhaps because she did not live long after being scourged, Marcella was included in the Roman Martyrology
The ''Roman Martyrology'' () is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approved appendices to it. It provid ...
. Her feast day in the west is January 31.
Marcella of Rome is honored with a Lesser Feast on the liturgical calendar
The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year, ecclesiastical calendar, or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical days and seasons that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be obs ...
of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
The Episcopal Church (TEC), also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA), is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, based in the United States. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is ...
on January 31
Events Pre-1600
* 314 – Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades.
* 1208 – The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on th ...
.
The artwork ''The Dinner Party
''The Dinner Party'' is an installation artwork by American feminist artist Judy Chicago. There are 39 elaborate place settings on a triangular table for 39 mythical and historical famous women. Sacajawea, Sojourner Truth, Eleanor of Aquitaine, ...
'' by Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...
features a place setting for Marcella.Place Settings
Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved on 2015-08-06.
References
Further reading
*Kraemer, Ross S., ed. ''Maenads, Martyrs, Matrons, Monastics: A Sourcebook on Women's Religions in the Greco-Roman World''. 1988; rev. ed., Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
*Wright, F. A., trans. ''Jerome: Select Letters. 1933; reprint ed.'', Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcella
325 births
410 deaths
5th-century Christian saints
5th-century Roman women
Anglican saints
Christian ascetics
Correspondents of Jerome