Rebuke by and Reciprocity of Marcella

Abstract

In the fourth century Eternal City, a bizarre event occurred. A murmur and rumor of innovation came when Jerome, an itinerant scholar, lectured for a patron in an Aventine palace. What was appalling was that the students of 382-385 CE were female. Marcella who led Psalms recitations in Hebrew, to them, morning and evening was active before Jerome arrived. She rose to rebuke his arrogance to Roman clergy. Marcella had a not-tangential role in an ascetic dispute, in 390’s Rome over Origen’s works. This article sketches the matrix of bible study, education and gender, asking about the fourth century trend.