Letter 22 to Eustochium

St. Jerome's most famous letter (Libellus de virginitate servanda), written to St. Eustochium, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the Roman widow St. Paula. St. Jerome exhorts St. Eustochium to embrace virginity and teaches her the proper conduct of a young woman. It contains his: 1. view that God, though omnipotent, cannot restore a fallen virgin (§5) 2. vivid description of fasting and temptation (§7) 3. view of abortion, that it is murder (§13) 4. term superbiam sanctam, virginity a "holy pride