Letters to Demetrias: A Sidebar in the Pelegian Controversy Helenae, amicae meae

In 412 an event occurred which Jerome described as lessening "the calamity of the fall of Rome," an event on account of which "every church in Africa danced for joy, every island between Africa and Italy was full of glad tidings, [and] Italy put off her mourning. " The occasion for this extravagant jubilation was not the reconquest of Italy, not a military victory of any kind, but a decision a fourteen-year-old girl had taken to live a life of celibacy. Such a choice was far from uncommon among late fourth- and fifth-century Christians, and possibly made more attractive at this time by the turbulent conditions in Europe and North Africa. Why, then, the exuberant language? And why are not only Jerome's letter, but those of Augustine and Pelagius, still of interest today?