Woodcut of St. Marcella

"By heaven's grace, captivity has found me a poor women, not made me one. Now I shall go in want of daily bread, but shall not feel hunger since I am full of Christ."

All that we know of Marcella is contained in the many letters that she recieved form her friend St. Jerome and especially from an eloquent memorial, in which he called her "the glory of all saints and particularly of the city of Rome."

Marcella was born to a wealthy and noble family of Rome. After the death of her father she was urged to marry and did so. Her husband wa also a wealthy man, but his death left her a widow after only seven months of marriage. Henceforth she resisted all invitations to remarry, happily dedicating herself to a life of chastity. When a ranking-- and elderly-- consul proposed to leave her all his money if she would marry him, she answered, "If I wished to marry... I should in any case look for a husband, not an inheritance."

After this Marcella's life was occupied by prayer, study of scripture, and frequent visits to the shrines of the martyrs. She gave away all her fortune, "perferring to store her money in the stomachs of the needy rather than hide it in a purse." At this time she came across an account of the life of St. Anthony and was inspired, as much as her circumstances would allow, to emulate his monastic life. Thus she began to gather a community of like-spirited women, both widows and unmarried maidens, who shared her appetite for hliness. Most were of similar social background, though they conformed to Marcella's voluntary poverty. They followed no formal rule. Nevertheless, this was perhaps one of the earliest such communities of Christain women.

When Jerome arrived in Rome, he was introduced to Marcella's circle of holy women, and he was induced, somewhat reluctantly, to serve as their spiritual director. So impressed was he by thier learning and piety that he compared them to the holy women who surrounded Jesus. Marcella, he claimed, was another Mary Magdalene. A number of these women became his lifeling friends. So frequent a vistor to this community was Jerome that, in "a slander-loving place... where the triumph of vice was to disparage virtue and to defile all that is pure and clean," his enemies found ample material for gossip. Such an atmosphere contributed to his decision to flee Rome for the Holy Land. Nevertheless, he maintained his close correspondance with Marcella until her death.

She continued her holy life until the sack of Rome in 410. The spectacle of this violence and the ensuing famine made an impact on the entire classical world. As Jerome wrote, "The city which has taken the whole world was itself taken." At onepoint the invading hordes broke into the home of Marcella,then eighty-five, and beat her savagely in order to discover her hidden treasures. In vain she protested that she owned nothing but the robe she wore, she had fears lest they would take even that from her. Nevertheless her brave composure arrested the assault, and eventually the shame-faced attackers escorted her to the refuge of a nearby church.

Marcella died within a few months of this assault. Though her sisters wept, Jerome writes, "she smiled, conscious of having lived a good life and hoping for a reward hereafter." See: St. Jerome, "Letter CXXVII: To Principia," in Select Letters of St. Jerome, trans. F.A. Wirght (New York: G.P. Putman's Sons, 1932). Blessed among all women