User:Madamebutterflu/sandbox

Paula’s Pilgrimage
A year after the death of her husband, Paula pursued a pilgrimage to tour all of the holy sights traveling with large entourages of both men and women including her daughter Eustochium and Jerome himself. Paula could undertake this voyage due to her widow status which left her a significant fortune allowing her exemption from remarriage. Additionally, she was further able to pursue having had a male heir and two married daughters providing additional financial insurance. Her travels are documented by Jerome in his later writing addressed to Eustochium which discusses how Paula participated in the environments they toured. He discusses that Paula exemplified an intimate and emotional connection with the sights, experiencing visual vividness of the biblical events at each locale. In the conclusion of her journey, Paula decided to remain in Bethlehem to develop a monastery and spiritual retreat with Jerome.

Monastery Establishment
Once settling in Bethlehem, Paula and Jerome built a double monastery. This included one for Paula and her nuns and another for Jerome and his monks with the addition of a roadside hostel that served as an economic source to fund the monasteries. This development took three years to complete and was primarily sourced by Paula who, during this time of construction, stayed at another double monastery called Mount Olives.

Once completed, the monastery segregated each gender from one another during manual labor and meals, but practiced prayer in the same locale. Additional separation, within the nun monastery, included three different communities of women based on social rank who were divided in separate living quarters.

During its functioning, Jerome and Paula’s retreat attracted large crowds of visitors both from Christian backgrounds and general travelers from a variety of regions including Ethiopia, Persia, and India. Along with this, aristocratic refugees were also drawn to the locale due to Jerome’s extensive network of followers. The result of this inclusion, alongside their growing admittance of monks and nuns, left Paula and Jerome’s retreat to face financial hardship, having their resources strained. In order to recover costs, which were also depleted by Paula’s considerable donations to the needy, Jerome sold his family’s property in Italy and Dalmatia.

Paula's Ascetic Life
It is Jerome’s writing’s in a letter to Eustochium that provide the most insight on Paula’s life during her years of service at the monastery. She is noted as maintaining her ascetic devotion through intensive studies of the Old and New Testaments, often under the guidance of Jerome. With this, she also practiced a strict fasting regimen, abstinence, and pursued a destitute lifestyle “to preserve a singular attachment to God” as stated by Jerome. While practicing this life of isolation, Paula still continued to interact with local clergy and bishops and maintained devout attention to teaching the nuns under her sovereignty.

Jerome made explicit in his letter how Paula, through these practices, became a recognized figure in the Christian community. At one point, in traveling to Nitria, she was earnestly received by renowned monks from Egypt and once her death arrived on January 26th 404 AD, her funeral was noted as having a significant portion of the Palestine population arrive in her honor. A year after her passing, Paula obtained the title of Saint recognized by the Latin Church where she was honored the feast day of January 26th.