Born: 5 May 347 CE, Italy
Died: 26 January 404 CE
Country most active: Palestine/Israel
Also known as: NA
This biography was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Joshua J. Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Saint Paula (l. 347-404) was the close associate of Saint Jerome who encouraged him to translate the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, thus creating the Vulgate Translation, which continued in use for the next 1,500 years as the authoritative scripture of Christianity. Paula was another wealthy Roman aristocrat who, after the death of her husband, was drawn to the monastic community of women established by Marcella on the Aventine Hill. She became acquainted with Saint Jerome through Marcella and traveled widely with him, establishing a religious center in Bethlehem and practicing strict asceticism including abstinence. She helped Jerome translate the Bible, proofread his work, and edited it for publication. When she died, her passing was deeply mourned by the Christian community, and she was sainted within a year.