The Influence of Women on the Monastic Movement of the Fourth Century According to St. Jerome

Abstract

The study examines the role of Christian female patrons in the development of the monastic movement in the fourth century, based on the letters and activity of St. Jerome. The author demonstrates that aristocratic women such as St. Paula, St. Marcella, and St. Melania the Elder played a decisive role through their wealth, patronage, and spiritual mentorship. They supported the building of monasteries, sustained Jerome’s literary work, and facilitated the transfer of asceticism from Rome to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The analysis emphasizes the interplay of gender, power, and religious practice, showing how elite women became key mediators in popularizing the “angelic life” and in consolidating clerical celibacy. Despite cultural constraints, their support and spiritual authority reveal that early Christian monasticism was inconceivable without the active participation of women.