View source for Paulina (wife of Pammachius)

{{Short description|Late Roman aristocrat and philanthropist, who was the wife of Pammachius}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Paulina
| image              = Paulina, wife of Pammachius.png
| death_date         = {{circa|397}}
| death_place        = Rome
| spouse             = [[Pammachius]]
| parents            = Toxotius and [[Paula of Rome]]
}}
'''Paulina''' (died {{circa|397}}) was a late Roman aristocrat and philanthropist, who was the wife of [[Pammachius]] and the daughter of [[Paula of Rome]]. Letters of condolence were written at her death by [[Paulinus of Nola]] and [[Jerome]].
== Biography ==
Little is known about Paulina's early life. Her parents were Paula and Toxotius, both were from Roman noble families.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=St. Paula - Saints & Angels|url=https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=428|access-date=30 November 2020|website=Catholic Online|language=en}}</ref> They had five children: Toxotius, [[Blaesilla|Blesilla]], Paulina, [[Eustochium]], and Rufina.<ref name=":3" />
In 385, the same year her mother left for the East, Paulina married Pammachius,<ref>Wace, Henry. "Paulina, Daughter of Paula". ''A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography'' 1911</ref> who was a Roman senator;<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=St. Pammachius|url=http://faith.nd.edu/s/1210/faith/interior.aspx?sid=1210&gid=609&pgid=16085&cid=32368&ecid=32368&crid=0&calpgid=61&calcid=53508|access-date=15 October 2020|website=faith.nd.edu}}</ref> he was also her mother's cousin.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=SMITH|first=RICHARD UPSHER|date=2009|title=Saint Monica and Lady Philosophy|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44078602|journal=Carmina Philosophiae|volume=18|pages=93–125|jstor=44078602|issn=1075-4407}}</ref> The couple lived in a ''domus'' on the site of what is now [[Santi Giovanni e Paolo al Celio]] in Rome.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Munk|first=A.|date=1 May 2009|title=Domestic Piety in Fourth Century Rome: A Relic Shrine beneath the Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo|url=https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/10.1484/J.HAM.3.39|journal=Hortus Artium Medievalium|volume=15|issue=1|pages=7–19|doi=10.1484/J.HAM.3.39|issn=1330-7274}}</ref> A Christian shrine was built within their home, however the date of construction can only be narrowed to 385–410, so it is unclear the extent to which Paulina may have been involved in its construction.<ref name=":1" /> In addition to the shrine, the house also featured murals of the Martyrdom of the St Crispo and it is likely that these were commissioned by Paulina.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=1 November 2019|title=Unbekanntes Rom: Auf den Spuren der frühen Christen - Vatican News|url=https://www.vaticannews.va/de/vatikan/news/2019-10/maertyrer-rom-christen-celio-huegel.html|access-date=30 November 2020|website=www.vaticannews.va|language=de}}</ref> She is depicted in part of the mural with her arms outstretched in welcome, with a figure, who is possibly her sister Rufina stood nearby.<ref name=":1" />
== Death ==
Paulina died during the birth of her son in 397.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Vidén|first=Gunhild|date=1 January 1998|title=St. Jerome on female chastity: Subjugating the elements of desire|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00397679808590944|journal=Symbolae Osloenses|volume=73|issue=1|pages=139–157|doi=10.1080/00397679808590944|issn=0039-7679}}</ref> After her death Pammachius inherited her property.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ryan|first=William Granger|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7stkm|title=The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints|date=2012|publisher=Princeton University Press|jstor=j.ctt7stkm|isbn=978-0-691-15407-7}}</ref> He soon after dedicated himself to a charitable works.<ref>{{Cite web|title=St. Pammachius {{!}} EWTN|url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/pammachius-718|access-date=15 October 2020|website=EWTN Global Catholic Television Network|language=en}}</ref> At her funeral feast, her husband invited a "large crowd of the poor and hungry" to share the banquet.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NykKAQAAMAAJ|title=Commemorating the dead : texts and artifacts in context : studies of Roman, Jewish, and Christian burials|date=2008|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|others=Brink, Laurie, 1961-, Green, Deborah A.|isbn=978-3-11-021157-3|location=Berlin|pages=133|oclc=567903856}}</ref> Pammachius and his friend [[Saint Fabiola|Fabiola]] established a ''xenodochium '' in Paulina's honor, which provided hospitality to travellers on the river [[Tiber]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Watson|first=Sethina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=57ryDwAAQBAJ&q=Paulina++Pammachius|title=On Hospitals: Welfare, Law, and Christianity in Western Europe, 400-1320|date=24 July 2020|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-258676-6|pages=5|language=en}}</ref>
Letters of condolence after Paulina's death were written to Pammachius, by [[Paulinus of Nola]]<ref name=":4" /> and [[Jerome]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/book/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.6.09070802050003050401060903|title=England and Rome in the Early Middle Ages: Pilgrimage, Art, and Politics|date=2014|publisher=Brepols Publishers|isbn=978-2-503-54169-3|editor-last=Tinti|editor-first=Francesca|series=Studies in the Early Middle Ages|volume=40|location=Turnhout|pages=80|language=en|doi=10.1484/m.sem-eb.6.09070802050003050401060903}}</ref> Bearing in mind that Paulina died in childbirth, Jerome's letter stresses that bearing children was a precursor to her adoption of a life of chastity and sanctity.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Clark|first=Elizabeth A.|date=1 January 1997|title=Sane Insanity: Women and Asceticism in Late Ancient Christianity|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/me/3/3/article-p211_2.xml|journal=Medieval Encounters|language=en|volume=3|issue=3|pages=211–230|doi=10.1163/157006797X00152|issn=1570-0674}}</ref> He also wrote, in ''Epistle 66,'' discussing the alms which  Pammachius dispensed, that: "Other husbands sprinkle violets, roses, lilies, and shining blossoms and alleviate the pain in their hearts by these good offices. Our Pammachius waters the sacred ashes and her venerable bones with balsams of alms."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shanzer|first=Danuta|date=2008|title=Bible, Exegesis, Literature, and Society|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45020098|journal=The Journal of Medieval Latin|volume=18|pages=130–157|issn=0778-9750|doi=10.1484/J.JML.3.8|jstor=45020098}}</ref>
== Historiography ==
{{Wikisource|Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Paulina, daughter of Paula}}The historian [[Paola Moretti]] interprets Paulina as a device used to portray some women as praiseworthy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Moretti|first=Paola Francesca|date=18 December 2014|title=Jerome's Epistolary Portraits of Holy Women: Some Remarks about Their Alleged Multilingualism|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/563955|journal=Journal of Late Antiquity|language=en|volume=7|issue=2|pages=280–297|doi=10.1353/jla.2014.0032|s2cid=161744923|issn=1942-1273}}</ref> [[Gunhild Vidén]] discusses Paulina's removal of her clothing after her conversion, as a depiction of her change from pleasure-seeking to a life of virtue.<ref name=":2" />
== References ==
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[[Category:390s deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:4th-century Christians]]
[[Category:4th-century Roman women]]
[[Category:4th-century Romans]]
[[Category:Deaths in childbirth]]