She was a noble woman of Rome and a widow who, with her virginal daughter, Saint Eustochium, went to live in Bethlehem near the crib where Our Lord was born. Saint Jerome, Doctor of the Church, wrote her life.
Lives of the saints are best written by saints themselves. Among such lives of saints written by saints, we may mention:
Saint Jerome, Doctor of the Church, wrote the life of Saint Paul the Hermit and of Saint Paula.
Saint Athanasius, Doctor of the Church, wrote the life of Saint Anthony the Abbot, the life which led to the conversion of Saint Augustine.
Saint Ephrem, Doctor of the Church, wrote the life of Saint Abraham the Hermit.
Saints Jerome, Paula, and Eustochium, by Francisco de Zurbarán
Saint Gregory, Pope and Doctor of the Church, wrote the life of Saint Benedict, founder of the Benedictine Order.
Saint Bernard, Doctor of the Church, wrote the life of Saint Malachy O’More, the Primate of Armagh, in Ireland, who died in Saint Bernard’s arms and who was buried with him.
Saint Peter Damian, Doctor of the Church, wrote the life of Saint Romuald, founder of the Camaldolese monks.
Saint Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church, wrote the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order.
Saint Bede, Doctor of the Church, wrote the life of Saint John of Beverley, Archbishop of York.
Saint Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church, wrote the life, by way of eulogy, of Saint Aloysius, angelic young saint of the Society of Jesus.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa, brother of Saint Basil the Great, wrote the life of Saint Ephrem, Doctor of the Church.
Saint Pontius wrote the life of Saint Cyprian, Father of the Church.
Saint Zosimus gave the details for the life of Saint Mary of Egypt, who spent forty-seven years in the desert.
Saint Willibald, his disciple, wrote the life of Saint Boniface, the great apostle to Germany.
Saint Rembert wrote the life of Saint Ansgar, the first great apostle to the Scandinavian countries.
Saint Ansgar wrote the life of Saint Willehad.
Saint Braulio wrote the life of Saint Aemilian.
Saint Adamnan wrote the life of Saint Columbkille, glorious Irish saint.
Saint Paphnutius wrote the life of Saint Humphrey (Saint Onuphrius).
Saint Possidus wrote the life of Saint Augustine, Doctor of the Church.
Saint Ludger, first Bishop of Munster, wrote the life of Saint Gregory of Utrecht.
Saint Ennodius wrote the life of Saint Anthony of Lerins and of Saint Epiphanius.
Saint Venantius Fortunatus wrote the life of Saint Radegunde.
Saint Hildegarde wrote the life of Saint Rupert and of Saint Disibode.
Saint Antoninus wrote the life of Blessed John the Good.
Blessed Raymond of Capua wrote the life of Saint Agnes of Montepulciano and the life of Saint Catherine of Siena.
Saint Vincent Mary Strambi wrote the life of Saint Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionist Order.
Saint Killian wrote the life of Saint Bridget of Kildare, the “Mary of the Gael.”
Saint John Bosco wrote the life of Saint Dominic Savio, who died when he was fifteen years old, in 1857, and whose great motto was, “Death rather than sin!”
