425
Izvirni znanstveni članek/Article (1.01)
Bogoslovni vestnik/Theological Quarterly 81 (2021) 2, 425–436
Besedilo prejeto/Received:10/2020; sprejeto/Accepted:02/2021
UDK: 27-36-1sv.Hieronim
DOI: 10.34291/BV2021/02/Sales
© 2021 Sales-Carbonell, CC BY 4.0
Jordina Sales-Carbonell
Jerome and Western Monasticism: Asceticism,  
Evergetism, and Orthodoxy in the Late 4th Century 
Hispania
Hieronim in zahodno meništvo: asketicizem, everge-
tizem in ortodoksnost v Hispaniji poznega 4. stoletja
Abstract: Jerome had very little Hispanic epistolary correspondence. Nonetheless, 
the information contained in his few surviving letters gives us an idea of the 
essential nature of the first Hispanic monasticism - that related to aristocratic 
asceticism in a family milieu. Among other things, it was the economic basis 
for the foundation of monasteries throughout the Holy Land under the direct 
patronage of Jerome of Stridon. Lucinus and his wife Theodora were wealthy 
Baetican landowners who became active euergetes for the Christian cause and 
embraced an ascetic life under Jerome’s influence. Lucinus sent conspicuous 
amounts of money to Jerome. He also sent a garment he had worn as a sym-
bol of his conversion to monasticism, a decision Jerome endorsed and blessed 
when he replied by sending silicon garments for him and his wife, Theodora. 
Abigaus was a blind man who also converted to asceticism under the episto-
lary influence of Jerome. He appears to have been related to a proto-monastic 
community to which Lucinus and Theodora may have belonged. This is an excit-
ing aspect that allows us to fully comprehend the beginnings of coenobitism 
in the western reaches of the Roman Empire. The portrait of a late 4th-century 
orthodox asceticism painted by Jerome’s letters will be analyzed and compared 
with the information gleaned from the contemporary archaeological remains in 
Hispania impregnated by Priscillianism and other heterodox movements against 
which Jerome railed through epistolography from his base in the Holy Land.
Keywords: Hispania, monasticism, asceticism, orthodoxy, Christianization among 
the aristocracy, ecclesia in villa
Povzetek: Čeprav je Hieronimovih epistolarnih korespondentov iz Hispanije zelo 
malo, je iz nekaterih ohranjenih pisem kljub temu mogoče razbrati bistveno 
značilnost zgodnjega hispanskega meništva, ki je bilo povezano z aristokratskim 
asketicizmom družinske narave, to pa je med drugim prispevalo k ekonomski 
426 Bogoslovni vestnik 81 (2021) • 2
podlagi ustanavljanja samostanov v Sveti deželi pod vodstvom stridonskega 
pisca. Bogata betičanska veleposestnika, Lucin in žena Teodora, ki sta postala 
dejavna pri krščanski dobrodelnosti, sta pod Hieronimovim vplivom sprejela 
asketski način življenja. Lucin je Hieronimu poslal velik znesek denarja, obenem 
pa – kot simbol svojega sprejetja meniškega življenja – tudi volnen kos blaga; 
to je Hieronim pohvalil in blagoslovil, saj jima je nazaj tudi sam poslal kos bla-
ga. Na drugi strani se zdi, da je slepi Abigaus, ki se je prav tako oklenil meništva 
pod vplivom Hieronimovih pisem, povezan s protomeniško skupnostjo, kateri 
sta morda pripadala tudi Lucin in Teodora, to pa lahko prispeva k boljšemu ra-
zumevanju cenobitskega meništva v zahodnem delu imperija. Članek obravna-
va ortodoksni asketicizem s konca 4. stoletja, kakor ga prikazujejo Hieronimova 
pisma, in ga primerja s sodobnimi dognanji glede (arheologije) hispanskega 
meništva, ki so ga pogosto zaznamovale tendence priscilijanizma in drugih he-
terodoksnih gibanj, proti katerim se je Hieronim iz Svete dežele boril s pismi.
Ključne besede: Hispania, meništvo, asketicizem, ortodoksnost, pokristjanjevanje 
aristokracije, ecclesia in villa
1. Introduction 
This short paper will analyze various aspects deriving from the direct contact Je-
rome established with the first Hispanic monasticism1 (or, more specifically, the 
first Hispanic asceticism).2 As far as we know, Jerome never travelled to Hispania, 
and none of his texts or any third parties refers to it, either in a legendary or an 
apocryphal manner.
His presence on Hispanic soil came through his letters and the early dissemina-
tion and influence of his work. It should be framed within an initial general flow 
in which the ‘Eastern Christian factor’ reached the Iberian Peninsula almost ex-
clusively in the form of literature (4th–5th centuries). It also arrived very occasion-
ally through the presence of certain people who came with or at the invitation of 
Westerners who had previously travelled to the Holy Land.
This occurred in both Hispania and the rest of Western Europe. With Jerome, 
it can be seen; for example, in the presence among his circle of friends and ac-
quaintances of Evagrius of Antioquia, an Eastern priest brought to Europe by 
Eusebius of Vercelli, who, during Jerome’s youth, moved between Aquileia and 
Concordia.
1 This paper falls within the framework of the project: „Monastic Landscapes. Representations and vir-
tualisations of Medieval Spiritual and Material Realities in the Western Mediterranean (6th–16th centu-
ries)“ PGC2018-095350-B-I00.
2 The origin of Hispanic asceticism has already been dealt with masterfully by, among others, Díaz Martínez 
1991 and Marcos Sánchez 2002. 
427Jordina Sales-Carbonell - Jerome and Western Monasticism
It would not be until later (6th‒7th centuries) that the Oriental Christians, espe-
cially monks, physically moved westwards in general and to the Iberian Peninsula.3 
This occurred for various reasons, none of which interests us here and will not go 
into this presentation. However, this research will focus on the stage during the 
last years of the Western Roman Empire and the influence exerted by Jerome on 
the first outbreaks of monasticism at its westernmost end.
2. The Hispanic Religious Framework
From the point of view of Christianity, the Hispania of the last decade of the 4th 
century (the chronological framework in which we document the contact between 
Jerome and Hispanic asceticism) was a territory characterized by the proliferation 
of different heterodoxies (Escribano Paño 1990, 151–189), as also happened in 
the East and many other parts of the Empire. It is known that Jerome fought very 
actively and vehemently against many of these doctrinal positions (Jeanjean 1999).
In the historical framework of Jerome’s lifetime, some of the primary heresies 
in Hispania were Arianism, Priscillianism,4 Gnosticism, Manichaeism, and Novati-
anism, even though the prefecture of Gaul (and therefore the Vicariate of the Hi-
spanias) suffered the most extreme measures of religious totalitarianism applied 
by Emperor Maximus from 383. In this very messy, confused, and tense doctrinal 
environment, Hispanic Christians who devoted themselves to the ascetic way of 
life5 needed clear spiritual guidance, an aspect that does not always appear to 
have been satisfied by the local hierarchies (often precisely because they were 
immersed in their doctrinal struggles). 
Some confusion and involuntary heterodoxy must have existed (and is verified 
in different sources) among Hispanic Christians, who were victims of pressure from 
the different positions mentioned above. Consequently, it is not surprising that the 
faithful and ascetic, in order to ensure the correct orthodoxy in their ascetic practices 
(un- or very little regulated in those initial moments of Western monasticism), would 
end up appealing to an exogenous, superior authority such as Jerome at this stage 
of their maturity for precise advice and instruction. Moreover, the fear of falling into 
heterodoxy and ending up like Priscillian (executed in 385, a few years before the 
Hispanic letters we comment on below) would probably have influenced the decisi-
on to be placed under the direct tutelage of a higher authority.6 This procedure had 
already been clearly established in other canonical documents, such as Pope Siricius’ 
letter-decree to Bishop Himerius of Tarraco (Ep. 1.7 [PL 13, 1137–1141]), also in 385.
3 My article entitled „Syrian and other Eastern monks in Late Antique Hispania. Archaeological data“ will 
appear in a monograph Power, Conversion and Religious Leadership (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
4 A heresy for which Jerome had a particular aversion, e.g. Ep. 120.10.
5 Fontaine (1979, 28–53) analysed some years ago the ascetic model that had been brought from the 
East to the West and that, from the late 4th century, had been installed in the villae of the aristocratic 
families converted to Christianity.
6 As Jerome himself confirms in his Ep. 75 addressed to a Hispanic ascetic.
428 Bogoslovni vestnik 81 (2021) • 2
Additionally, Jerome’s base in the Holy Land and its strategic installation next to 
the Nativity Church in Bethlehem gave him an unquestionable aura of fame and au-
thority in the Christian world. That authority is known to have begun taking shape 
when he worked as a »secretary of Latin letters« for Pope Damasus in the 480s and 
began to surround himself with select Roman matrons prepared to devote them-
selves to asceticism under the guidance of their master. Finally, having overcome 
his problems in Jerusalem relating to Origenism (Bautista Valero 2013, 45–65), his 
steadfast struggle against the diverse heterodoxies of the period endowed him 
with the outstanding experience and authority to emerge as a universal reference 
for the Catholic orthodoxy of his time (Moreschini 1982, 61–71).
Returning to the Hispanic heterodoxies, perhaps the most influential of the 
time, Priscillianism, should be particularly highlighted, not only for its intrinsic 
importance but also for its apparent similarities to the way Jerome organized his 
disciples. Jerome, like Priscillian, surrounded himself mainly with women, aristo-
cratic Roman matrons who sought in the charismatic figure the spiritual master 
who would guide their new ascetic status.7 Let us recall the first woman Jerome 
led to becoming a ,consecrated virgin‘: his sister. This led to family tensions, and 
that, together with the resignation of his career in the court of Valentinian I, was 
the straw that broke the camel’s back and resulted in Jerome’s first departure to 
the East.8
Therefore, if Priscillian and Jerome have one thing in common, apart from a very 
similar age, it is the charisma and ability to attract circles of Roman aristocratic 
women to their ranks.9 Nevertheless, according to the sources, it appears that the 
equality with which Priscillian treated them compared to ascetic males was one 
of the essential differences between him and Jerome and, at the same time, one 
of the many things his enemies accused him of. However, as some authors have 
pointed out, in this regard, Jerome’s attacks on heretics are artificially rhetorical 
and somewhat hypocritical because they appear accompanied by women (Hier., 
Ep. 53.7),10 given their intense ascetic activity with their circle of Roman matrons.
7 In fact, women were the protagonists of the first forms of ascesis documented in Hispania, when they 
are mentioned in the Council of Elvira held at the beginning of the 4th century as ‚consecrated virgins‘ 
(males ascetics would not appear in the Hispanic sources until well into the 4th century); these female 
ascetics would have made a formal religious commitment under the tutelage of the ecclesiastic ministers 
with the sexual restraint as its basis (Marcos Sánchez 2002, 234–238). On the other hand, it is well 
known that Jerome wrote various treatises on female virginity, one of the most popular subjects of 
early Christianity, see Adkin 2003.
8 By chance, his second and definitive departure for the East was also motivated by the unfortunate 
consequences of the conversion to asceticism of the young widow Blaesilla, see Hier., Ep. 45. (González 
Salinero 2011, 543–562)
9 Well documented in the case of Priscillian is the staunch defence for him mounted by powerful ari-
stocrats, who in turn also ended up being condemned to death (Marcos Sánchez 2002, 244–245).
10 Other works by Jerome insist on the idea of  seduction of wealthy women by the leaders of the heresi-
es, e.g. Hier., Comm. in Isaiam 17.64.
429Jordina Sales-Carbonell - Jerome and Western Monasticism
3. The Hispanic Ascetics Related to Jerome
From his base in Bethlehem, Jerome consolidated his authority and continued to 
send letters to the Christian aristocracy of the time, which also includes a cast of 
Hispanic correspondents (Brogiolo 2005, 127–150; Marcos Sánchez 2014, 13–35), 
although we only have evidence of three: a consecrated couple and a blind asce-
tic. They appear in three preserved letters (Ep. 71; 75; 76) written at the end of 
the 4th century. The information is sparse, but it allows us to draw very eloquent 
lines of the essential nature of the first Hispanic monasticism.
Letters 71 (Ad Lucinum baeticum, a. 398) and 75 (Ad Theodoram spanam de 
morte Lucini, a. 399) of Jerome’s epistolary corpus correspond to Lucinus and his 
wife, Theodora. They were wealthy landowners from Baetica (Hier., Ep. 71.3–4)11 
and active euergetes for the Christian cause who had embraced the ascetic life un-
der Jerome’s influence (Marcos Sánchez 1994). Lucinus had already sent other let-
ters (not preserved) to Jerome and six copyists to make copies of his works (Hier., 
Ep. 75.4). These would be the first copies of Jerome’s works to arrive in Hispania.
Likewise, Lucinus had sent vast amounts of money to the churches of Jerusalem 
and Alexandria (75.4) and other simple but highly symbolic items. These included 
a piece of wool and two capes he used as proof of his renunciation of the world 
and his conversion to the ,perfect life‘ (71.7),12 a decision that had been blessed 
by Jerome himself when he sent four silicon garments to the Hispanic couple, en-
dorsed in writing the orthodoxy of their practices, and invited them to establish, 
finally, their residence in the Holy Land (71.7).
On the other hand, in Letter 75, sent a few months later on the occasion of Luci-
nus’ death, Jerome gave a funeral eulogy for the husband to immediately encour-
age Theodora to continue improving her spiritual ,life of perfection‘ after having 
successfully achieved sexual continence during her last years of married life (Lau-
rence 1997, 274–276). This letter gives clear evidence of the problem mentioned 
above of the heresies that were invading Hispania at that time, especially among 
the ascetic circles of the aristocracy: »He (Lucinus), that when the most impure 
heresy of Basilides was ravaging the Hispanics, and like the contagious plague was 
devastating all the provinces between the Pyrenees and the Ocean, was able to 
maintain the purity of the Church, and not admit Armazel, Barbelon, Abraxas, 
Balsam, or the ridiculous Luesibora or those others that, more than names of 
persons, are monsters invented by those heretics to impress the spirit of the ig-
norant and prostitutes.« (Hier., Ep. 75.3)13 Subsequently, in the same paragraph, 
11 Marcos Sánchez (2002, 254) argues that this Hispanic husband and wife did not belong to the senato-
rial aristocracy, but rather to a well-off urban elite. We are going by the dates given in the 2013 Spani-
sh translation of Jerome’s epistolary by the Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (Madrid), who based their 
work mainly on Migne’s Latin text (PL 22 and PLS 2, 20).
12 Lucinus would have communicated to Jerome his decision to convert to the ascetic life in a letter that 
has not been preserved (Vilella Masana 2002, 92–93). 
13 In the same letter Jerome also alludes to Gnosticism and its overwhelming success among the Hispanic 
aristocracy. In subsequent letters, Hieronymus described Hispanic Priscillianism as an accomplice of 
Gnosticism, (Hier., Ep. 133.3). The translations of the passages from Jerome’s letters are taken from 
430 Bogoslovni vestnik 81 (2021) • 2
Jerome proclaims how those heterodox movements attempted, in particular, to 
procure for their ranks the women of ,the wealthy households‘. As we have al-
ready mentioned, this is a curious reproach, given that it is merely a projection 
and a reflection of Jerome’s strategy of surrounding himself with wealthy matrons 
to support his projects.
Because of their content, Ep. 71 and Ep. 75 are considered extolments to the 
nascent monastic life that was beginning to proliferate in Hispania according to 
the model of the married couple,14 withdrawing from the world and continuing 
to live together as a family while following rigorous patterns of continence and 
chastity. With their abundant economic resources ‒ and often in their properties 
‒ they ended up sowing the seeds of authentic monasteries as they would be de-
fined in the later literature. For this model, we have the case of the nobles Pau-
linus (of Gallic origin) and Tharasia (of Hispanic origin), who founded the famous 
Nola in a final phase of their ascetic life monasteries. We will return to Paulinus 
of Nola shortly.
However, the third letter sent to Hispania (Ep. 76; Ad Abigaum spanum, a. 399) 
briefly and concisely reveals a single person, the blind Abigaus (a priest?), per-
haps also converted to asceticism under the epistolary influence of Jerome. Ab-
igaus appears surrounded by sancti and related to an unnamed and undescribed 
community of a proto-monastic nature, to which some authors have indicated 
that the husband and wife Lucinus and Theodora may also have belonged (Vilella 
Masana 2002, 107). This is an exciting aspect for understanding the beginnings 
of the coenobitic organization at the western end of the Roman Empire. In this 
respect, Jerome asks Abigaus to take over the widow Theodora (Hier., Ep. 76.3). 
On the other hand, also significant is the mention at the end of the letter of 
the journey to the Holy Land that Theodora would have begun. This was a fash-
ionable itinerary for ascetics of the time, although, among the Hispanic women 
about whom we have information from the sources, she would have only been 
preceded by the Galician ascetic Egeria, who visited the holy sites of the East be-
tween 381 and 384 and left a written account of it.
Furthermore, here our questions arise about the structure and hierarchy of this 
supposed ascetic community. Would the husband and wife Lucinus and Theodora 
have been the estate owners on which the community came together? Therefore, 
would they have been the leaders of the ascetic community? Would Abigaus have 
been a prominent member of this community, as evidenced by his epistolary con-
tact with Jerome? Unfortunately, all these nuances are neither indicated in the let-
ters nor can they be deduced from them, although the first signs of a coenobitic 
organization that would be imposed in later centuries can be seen.
Finally, we cannot end this section concerning the letters Jerome sent to Hispania 
Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, ed. 1893. Jerome: Letters and Select Works. Nicene and Post-Nicene 
Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co. For the Latin text of 
Jerome’s letters Hilberg’s CSEL editions are used.
14 For the Late Antique marriage model, see Saje 2019.
431Jordina Sales-Carbonell - Jerome and Western Monasticism
without mentioning Ep. 53 and Ep. 58 sent to Paulinus of Nola. Although this great 
poet of Christian antiquity was not Hispanic, the native of Bordeaux would indeed 
have begun his conversion to asceticism while living in Hispania with his wife, the 
Hispanic noblewoman Tharasia,15 following the death of their son, Celsus, a few 
days after birth between 390 and 393.16 Therefore, the ascetic model of this couple 
would not have been very different from that of Lucinus and Theodora.
Furthermore, thanks to Paulinus and Tharasia, we know about what we could 
call Jerome’s ,epistolary antithesis‘, Ausonius of Bordeaux. Thus, just as Jerome 
congratulated Paulinus on his conversion and then encouraged the Baetican cou-
ple (Lucinus and Theodora) to embrace the ascetic life, in contrast, some years 
earlier, the poet from Bordeaux, perplexed by such a choice, was exhorting Pau-
linus and Tharasia to abandon that type of life and Hispania (Martínez Gázquez 
1973, 30–31). In the light of the final result, the ,spiritual victor‘ in the epistolary 
contest with the ascetic couples from the Iberian Peninsula was undoubtedly Je-
rome. For this reason, he should be considered as one of the founders and pro-
moters of Iberian monasticism.
Jerome’s epistles have been sent to Paulinus dated 394 and 395, when the 
Hispano-Gallic couple relocated to their properties in Campania, near Cimitile.17 
However, that does not mean that they are less attractive in terms of what we 
can learn from them about the asceticism practised by Christian couples in the 
West and Hispania.
In Ep. 53 (Ad Paulinum presbyterum, a. 394), Jerome congratulates Paulinus on 
his desire to enrich himself spiritually as »an obedient ingenuity, still without a 
master, is worthy of praise« (53.3). This would have been a veiled allusion to the 
nascent but important monastic movement organized in the West outside the 
priestly hierarchies that largely contributed to expanding the aforementioned 4th-
century heresies. This is why Jerome was at pains to guide Paulinus in the reading 
and study of the Holy Scripture (»let us study in the land that will live on in heav-
en« [53.10]) and invited him to come and be at his side in the Holy Land (53.11).
On the other hand, Ep. 58 (Ad Paulinum presbyterum, 395) confirms Paulinus 
and Tharasia’s decision taken in Hispania sometime before to live a life devoted ex-
clusively to ascesis. Therefore, Jerome exhorts Paulinus to renounce all his worldly 
goods completely. However, he is no longer insisting that Paulinus move to the 
East, as »Anthony and all the swarms of monks of Egypt and Mesopotamia, of 
Pontus, Cappadocia and Armenia never saw Jerusalem, and without the need for 
that city the gates of paradise are open to them« (58.3). However, Jerome does 
15 Paulinus would have met Tharasia thanks to the divine intervention of the martyr Felix (Paul. Nol., Carm. 
21.398–402).
16 The baby, born in the Hispanias, was buried alongside to martyred children (Paul. Nol., Carm. 31) in 
Complutum (Alcalá de Henares). Those martyrs were not named in the source but were later identified 
as Iustus and Pastor.
17 At Christmas 394 Paulinus had been ordained priest in Barcelona,  just before leaving for Italy (Paul. Nol., 
Ep. 1.10). That is why there is some debate as to whether Paulinus received Ep. 53 from Jerome while 
he was still in Hispania or after he arrived in Italy (Vilella Masana 2002, 87–88).
432 Bogoslovni vestnik 81 (2021) • 2
recommend »that you renounce the city and do not abandon your vocation as a 
monk« (58.4) if he finally decides not to practice as a presbyter. He also recom-
mends that he distance himself from the masses and the powerful, as well as eat-
ing meagre, vegetarian meals and practising other recommendations of austerity 
and contention along the lines that would be followed by Lucinus and Theodora 
a few years later (58.6–7).
Jerome’s letters directly impacted Hispania, but part of his non-epistolary liter-
ary work also influenced subsequent monasticism.18 For example, the Vita Pauli 
influenced the drawing up of the Vita Fructuosi (Díaz y Díaz 1974, 28), the famous 
monk and bishop of Braga who organized the monastic life of the northwestern 
quadrant of the Iberian Peninsula during the 7th century, founding numerous mon-
asteries and writing the rules for them.
Concerning Hispania and its incipient monasticism, we should also mention the 
Adversus Vigilantium, a treatise written by Jerome in 406 in response to the critical 
views that Vigilantius, a priest from Barcino,19 had monasticism and other funda-
mental elements of Christianity, such as the worship of saints and relics. His criti-
cism of monasticism derived from his complete rejection of celibacy, a mainstay of 
asceticism for Jerome and in the official position of the Church. Vigilantius did not 
accept the monk’s view as, from his perspective, it represented an escape from so-
ciety (Hier., Adv. Vigil. 356–357). Once in Barcelona,  where he would have arrived 
between 406 and 408 fleeing from the Vandal invasions (Massie 1980, 94–96), 
Vigilantius continued to defend his postulates (Castellanos 1995–96, 416–418).
4. Some Archaeological Notes 
From other letters written by Jerome, it can be deduced that this Hispanic ari-
stocracy probably built other domestica ecclesia on their properties, as documen-
ted for example in Ep. 30, which refers to the construction of a domestic church 
to host an ascetic community in the house of the Roman matron Paula (30.14). 
We could already be looking at domestica monasteria, as documented half 
a century later in the Council of Ilerda (present-day Lleida) in 546, which would 
anathemise the monasteries founded by private individuals that were not sub-
jected to the authority of the diocese (Conc. Ilerdensis, c. III.). More than a cen-
tury later, the Regula communis, probably written by Fructuosus of Braga, insisted 
on that subject and specified the existence of monasteries consecrated in private 
homes.20
18 However, Monaci Castagno noted that Jerome never wrote neither ecclesiastical history nor a monastic 
history, nonetheless he cultivated the ambition to be a historian of the Church or monasticism (2011, 
22).
19 Vigilantius was of Aquitanian origin (Hier., Adv. Vigil. 355ss.) and news of his appointment in Barcelona 
was provided by Gennadius of Marseille (Gennad., De vir. ill. 36).
20 »Indeed, some are accustomed to organising monasteries in their own homes for fear of hell, and to 
gather in community with their wives, children, servants and neighbours under the firmness of oath, 
433Jordina Sales-Carbonell - Jerome and Western Monasticism
There are quite a few Roman villae in Hispania in which slightly later chapels 
are documented (5th‒7th cent.) (Chavarria Arnau 2007, 143–152; Brogiolo 2005, 
130–132) that could already have been fulfilling this function in the last quarter 
of the 4th century. We have some archaeological remains of a sizeable late-Roman 
villae in southern Hispania for which we do not know the names of the former 
owners, but that could have easily belonged to ascetic married couples or another 
kind of family circle from the end of the fourth century.
Roman villas such as La Cocosa (Badajoz), La Olmeda (Palencia), El Saucedo 
(Toledo) or Milreu (Estoi, Portugal) could have been Christian monasteries or re-
treats for aristocratic ascetics during their late imperial phase. This possibility is 
based on the presence of basilicas in each of them. However, it is hazardous to 
go further and deduce only from that archaeological evidence that the ancient 
buildings in Roman villas were occupied by ascetics and/or monks or whether, in 
contrast, the villa basilicas were merely private chapels built for the owners. There 
is also a possibility that both cases could have occurred, correlatively, in individual 
villas. The private chapel could have attracted a community of monks, all without 
excluding the following parochial functions.
All these possibilities and questions can be applied to many archaeological sites. 
The paradigm could perhaps be the Villa Fortunatus (Fraga, Huesca), where, on 
one side of the peristyle, a chapel with a baptismal pool and a necropolis were 
installed in the 5th century (Navarro Sáez 1999, 147–150). All this in a villa whose 
proprietor was already a Christian in the third quarter of the 4th century, accord-
ing to a mosaic excavated in the domestic area.
Along the same lines of discussion but introducing more recent stratigraphic 
levels, of particular interest are various medieval monasteries or late antiquity 
churches that, interestingly, are built on the remains of Roman villas. For example, 
at the site known as Monte do Mosteiro (Mértola, Portugal), there is an early me-
dieval church on the plot of a Roman villa (Maciel and Martins 1995, 499–506). 
Moreover, at Sítio do Mosteiro (S. Bartolomeu do Outeiro, Portugal), a Visigothic 
basilica was excavated in a Roman villa with several chronological phases (Alfenim 
and Lima 1995, 463–469). It is likely that the toponym ,monastery‘ in these places 
(documented as early as the Middle Ages) refers to a monasterium in villa?
Therefore, the archaeological examples mentioned could have their origin as 
monasteries in the early ascetic practices of a private family nature, such as those 
undertaken in their villas by the Hispanic and Hispano-Gallic couples, is docu-
mented in Jerome’s letters.
and to consecrate churches in their own homes dedicated to martyrs and give them the title of ,mona-
steries‘.« (Regula communis 1)
434 Bogoslovni vestnik 81 (2021) • 2
5. Conclusion 
Jerome shows us how Hispanic monasticism was born and spread among the 
aristocracy due to the influence of literature (in this case, the epistolary genre) 
at a time when it was a practice restricted to matrimonial and/or family circles. 
Jerome addresses his letters to that aristocracy to answer their doctrinal doubts 
and lead them on the straight path of heterodoxy at a time of convulsion caused 
by heretical disputes that ravaged both East and West. The Hispanic monasticism 
that came later ‒ progressively more plural and heterogeneous on a social level 
‒ would be regulated based on coenobitic rules designed for community life and 
promoted by what had already become local episcopal hierarchies. Meanwhile, 
the formation of communities would soon be disassociated from their origin in 
the nuclei of aristocratic married couples converted to asceticism that abounded 
in the last years of the 4th century.
However, the substrate of the Hieronymian seed in Hispanic monasticism would 
survive the passage of time, with not only the influence of his work remaining 
indelible but also its invocation in many monasteries and monastic landscapes. 
For instance, in Montserrat’s millenary monastery (north-eastern Hispania), the 
highest peak on the mountain, where it is set, has been dedicated to St Jerome.
The saint’s popularity on the Iberian Peninsula would be crystallized in creating 
the Order of Saint Jerome in the 14th century (after a brief formation stage of an 
eremitic nature) foundation of successive Hieronymian monasteries during the 
years immediately after. These included San Bartolomé de Lupiana (Guadalajara), 
the true germ of the Order; San Jerome de Yuste (Cáceres); Sant Jeroni de la Vall 
d’Hebron (Barcelona); and Sant Jeroni de la Murtra (Badalona) (Díaz Martí, 2006).21
Nevertheless, it is in the south of the Iberian Peninsula that the Hieronymian 
monastic order appears to have taken root most extensively and intensively, es-
pecially in Andalusia:22 San Jerónimo de Valparaíso, in Córdoba, now declared a 
National Monument; or San Jerónimo de Buenavista in Seville; and eloquently, the 
first monastery built in Granada after the Catholic monarchs had taken the Muslim 
town, was one dedicated to St. Jerome (which appears to have an earlier history, 
although it is very poorly known). For their part, the female Hieronymian congre-
gations, such as Santa Paula in Seville, Santa María de la Asunción in Morón de la 
Frontera, Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles in Constantina, Santa Marta in Córdoba, 
and Santa Paula in Granada, remind us of the importance of female spirituality in 
Jerome’s monastic doctrine.
So, it should be noticed that it was in southern Spain ‒ ancient Baetica (where 
Lucinus, Theodora, and Abigaus lived and practised ascesis) ‒ that coincidentally 
it appears that Jerome’s name associated with the monastic world was recov-
21 Although it is currently cloistered, this monastery is spiritually and culturally still very active. 
22 Hernández-Díaz Tapia also emphasises the importance of the female branch of the Hieronymian order 
in Andalusia (1976, 7).
435Jordina Sales-Carbonell - Jerome and Western Monasticism
ered with greater intensity from the time of the Christian advance that ended up 
expelling the Muslims from ancient Hispania. This leads us to suspect that the 
Hieronymian legacy would have been transmitted powerfully from antiquity and 
survived during the long interval of Muslim occupation.
Abbreviations
 Adv. Vigil. – Adversus Vigilantium.
 CSEL – Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum.
 De vir. ill. – De Viris Illustribus.
 Ep. – Epistulae.
 PL – Patrologia Latina.
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