Eustochium

Paula and Eustochium at once began to erect four monasteries and a hospice near the spot where Christ was born.

Saint Jerome with Saint Paula and Saint Eustochium 2009

Here is an extract from a Curial Document The Pilgrimage in the Great Jubilee which explains the concept of pilgrimage in the time of Paula and Eustochium

Pilgrimage and more 2009

Jerome, Paula and Eustochium lived in the adjacent caves, which one can still see today, reached by a passage from that of the Nativity, beneath the sanctuary in what was the Empress Helena's Bethlehem basilica

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The three other monasteries were taken by Paula and Eustochium.

Saint Jerome with Saint Paula and Saint Eustochium 2009

Eustochium died in 419 as a nun in the monastery of Bethlehem, that had been founded by her mother Paula.

Pilgrimage and more 2009

The concept of Christian life as a pilgrimage, the search for divine intimacy, also by means of a detachment from the tumult of things and events, the veneration of holy places persuaded St. Jerome and the disciples Paula and Eustochium to leave Rome and settle in the land of Christ.

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Though it is against the laws of nature, she endured this trial with unabated faith; nay more she sought it with a joyful heart: and overcoming her love for her children by her greater love for God, she concentrated herself quietly upon Eustochium alone, the partner alike of her vows and of her voyage.

The Embarkation of St Paula Romana at Ostia 2009

St Jerome in one of his longest letters Letter 108 written to console Eustochium for the loss of her mother who had recently died amongst other things relates the story of Paula in detail.

The Embarkation of St Paula Romana at Ostia 2009

In like fashion does he exhort the maiden Eustochium to courageous and lifelong toil for Christ's sake: To become what the Martyrs, the Apostles, what even Christ Himself was, means immense labour - but what a reward!

The Death of St Jerome 2009

Paula and her daughter Eustochium, and facing it that of St. Jerome.died 419-420

Pilgrimage and more 2009