Letter 22 to Eustochium

St. Jerome's most famous letter (Libellus de virginitate servanda), written to St. Eustochium, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the Roman widow St. Paula. St. Jerome exhorts St. Eustochium to embrace virginity and teaches her the proper conduct of a young woman. It contains his:

1. view that God, though omnipotent, cannot restore a fallen virgin (§5)

2. vivid description of fasting and temptation (§7)

3. view of abortion, that it is murder (§13)

4. term superbiam sanctam, virginity a "holy pride" (§16)

5. praise of wedlock, that it gives him virgins (§20)

6. further reading recommendations on virginity (§22)

7. "Do you read? He [God] speaks to you." (§25)

8. dream where the Judge condemns him a Ciceronian, not a Christian (§30)

9. description of the three types of monasticism (§§34-36)

- Summary by Geremia