Letter 13

UnknownPammachius|c. 402 AD|paulinus nola
education booksgrief deathwomen
From: Paulinus of Nola
To: Pammachius, a Roman senator
Date: ~398 AD
Context: A consolation letter to the Roman senator Pammachius on the death of his wife Paulina — a major document of late antique Christian consolation literature, drawing on the theology of the resurrection and the communion of saints.

Paulinus to his dearest brother, deservedly praiseworthy and most venerable Pammachius.

Just as until now I kept a time of silence with proper humility, so now I have recognized the time for speaking with the love that is owed, my venerable and dearest brother in Christ the Lord [Ecclesiastes 3:7]. For through the writings of the holy man our brother Olympius, our kindred spirit, I recently received news of your grief — as unexpected to me as it was unwished — in which my fellowship in your sorrow and the duty of my voice could not be lacking. That the private feelings of personal love be silent I could not permit, but the love of Christ our Lord and God, in whom and through whom we are joined as members of one body, would not allow it. For the Lord God himself, our teacher of life and devotion alike, taught us through that heavenly "vessel of his election" [Acts 9:15] "to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep" [Romans 12:15], and in turn to share one another's sufferings and "bear one another's burdens" [Galatians 6:2], so that we might strengthen our common faith and comfort weary hearts through mutual consolation.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.

Related Letters

JeromePammachiusc. 386 · jerome #48

An apology for the two books against Jovinian which Jerome had written a short time previously, and of which he had sent copies to Rome. These Pammachius and his other friends had withheld from publication, thinking that Jerome had unduly exalted virginity at the expense of marriage. He now writes to make good his position, and to do this makes ...

JeromePammachiusc. 389 · jerome #57

When at a subsequent period Rufinus gave to the world what was in Jerome's opinion a misleading version of Origen's First Principles, he appealed to this letter as giving him ample warranty for what he had done. See Letters LXXX, and LXXXI, and Rufinus' Preface to the περί ᾿Αεχῶν in Vol. iii.

JeromePammachiusc. 398 · jerome #84

A calm letter in which Jerome defines and justifies his own attitude towards Origen, but unduly minimizes his early enthusiasm for him. He admires him in the same way that Cyprian admired Tertullian but does not in any way adopt his errors. He then describes his own studies and recounts his obligations to Apollinaris, Didymus, and a Jew named Ba...

JeromePammachiusc. 392 · jerome #66

Pammachius a Roman senator, had lost his wife Paulina one of Paula's daughters, while she was still in the flower of her youth. It was not till two years had elapsed that Jerome ventured to write to him; and when he did so he dwelt but little on the life and virtues of Paulina. Probably there was but little to tell.

Augustine of HippoPammachiusc. 395 · augustine hippo #58

1. The good works which spring from the grace of Christ in you have given you a claim to be esteemed by us His members, and have made you as truly known and as much beloved by us as you could be. For even were I daily seeing your face, this could add nothing to the completeness of the acquaintance with you which I now have, when in the shining l...