Asella
Life and witness
At Rome, of St. Asella, virgin, who, as St. Jerome writes, being blest even from her mother's womb, lived to her old age in fasting and prayer.
The Lives Of The Saints: Volume 15, December · S. ASELLA, V.
S. ASELLA, V.
(about a.d. 410.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority The letters of S. Jerome.]
S. Jerome, when in Rome, undertook to guide in the ascetic life a number of noble Roman ladies, who placed themselves under his direction. Among these were Marcella and her sister Asella. The latter had dedicated her virginity to God at the age of ten. When aged twelve, she shut her- self up in a little cell, lay on the earth, ate only bread, and drank nothing but water, would not look at a man, nor speak to her sister. Great lumps grew on her knees, like those on the legs of camels, from continual kneeling on the hard stones. When a religious solemnity drew her to church, she endeavoured to avoid attention. She dressed quietly, was always sad, never smiled, and was deadly pale. She wore sackcloth next her flesh, and lived till she was over fifty, without, we are assured, ever knowing what it was to have a pain in her stomach. She flattered herself that she had never in her whole life spoken to a man. This was the ideal per- fection of a woman, for which she had been created, in the eyes of S. Jerome, who also, unquestionably, regarded her name as inappropriate.
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Dec. 6.j .SS. Dionysia , Majoricus , and Others. 69
Biographical overview
Saint Asella, also known as Osella and Ocella (c. 334–c. 406), was a Roman virgin and hermit who was a disciple and friend of Saint Jerome, who spoke of her in his writings. She was a member of a noble and wealthy Roman Christian family, perhaps the sister of Marcella, another ascetic and saint.
Martyrologium Romanum · Latin witness
Romae sanctae Asellae Virginis, quae (ut beatus Hieronymus scribit), ex utero matris benedicta, vitam in jejuniis et orationibus usque ad senectam produxit.
The Lives Of The Saints: Volume 15, December · S. ASELLA, V.
(about a.d. 410.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority The letters of S. Jerome.]
S. Jerome, when in Rome, undertook to guide in the ascetic life a number of noble Roman ladies, who placed themselves under his direction. Among these were Marcella and her sister Asella. The latter had dedicated her virginity to God at the age of ten. When aged twelve, she shut her- self up in a little cell, lay on the earth, ate only bread, and drank nothing but water, would not look at a man, nor speak to her sister. Great lumps grew on her knees, like those on the legs of camels, from continual kneeling on the hard stones. When a religious solemnity drew her to church, she endeavoured to avoid attention. She dressed quietly, was always sad, never smiled, and was deadly pale. She wore sackcloth next her flesh, and lived till she was over fifty, without, we are assured, ever knowing what it was to have a pain in her stomach. She flattered herself that she had never in her whole life spoken to a man. This was the ideal per- fection of a woman, for which she had been created, in the eyes of S. Jerome, who also, unquestionably, regarded her name as inappropriate.
* *
Digitized by <^.ooQle
a — >.
Dec. 6.j .SS. Dionysia , Majoricus , and Others. 69