“Jerome in the desert - his experiences as an ascetic in the desert of Chalcis - original Latin Text with English translation”

From Letter 22 (section 7) to Eustochium.

Click here to read at earlychurchtexts.com in the original Latin (with dictionary links and alongside the translation given below). The site also gives access to textual notes and further background information. The English translation below is from the NPNF series.

earlychurchtexts.com

- gives access to a wide range of resources for those who wish to learn and know about Early Church History;

- has English translations (alongside original Greek and Latin texts) of important texts from the first five centuries of the life of the Church.

Click here to go to the Early Church Texts Home Page.

 

Relevant books available at Amazon coming soon...

Letter XXII. To Eustochium. 7. How often, when I was living in the desert, in the vast solitude which gives to hermits a savage dwelling-place, parched by a burning sun, how often did I fancy myself among the pleasures of Rome! I used to sit alone because I was filled with bitterness. Sackcloth disfigured my unshapely limbs and my skin from long neglect had become as black as an Ethiopian’s. Tears and groans were every day my portion; and if drowsiness chanced to overcome my struggles against it, my bare bones, which hardly held together, clashed against the ground. Of my food and drink I say nothing: for, even in sickness, the solitaries have nothing but cold water, and to eat one’s food cooked is looked upon as self-indulgence. Now, although in my fear of hell I had consigned myself to this prison, where I had no companions but scorpions and wild beasts, I often found myself amid bevies of girls. My face was pale and my frame chilled with fasting; yet my mind was burning with desire, and the fires of lust kept bubbling up before me when my flesh was as good as dead. Helpless, I cast myself at the feet of Jesus, I watered them with my tears, I wiped them with my hair: and then I subdued my rebellious body with weeks of abstinence. I do not blush to avow my abject misery; rather I lament that I am not now what once I was. I remember how I often cried aloud all night till the break of day and ceased not from beating my breast till tranquillity returned at the chiding of the Lord. I used to dread my very cell as though it knew my thoughts; and, stern and angry with myself, I used to make my way alone into the desert. Wherever I saw hollow valleys, craggy mountains, steep cliffs, there I made my oratory, there the house of correction for my unhappy flesh. There, also—the Lord Himself is my witness—when I had shed copious tears and had strained my eyes towards heaven, I sometimes felt myself among angelic hosts, and for joy and gladness sang: “because of the savour of thy good ointments we will run after thee.”

Mac Users please note that the site may not work with Safari versions lower than version 4. (It has been tested with version 4.0.3.) It will work with Firefox, which can be downloaded from here.

Please note that for all features of the site to work correctly javascript must be enabled and the operation of "pop-up" windows must not be blocked. Click here for more information.

Jerome in the desert
Epistola XXII
Letter 22
Epistula
Jerome letters
Temptations in the desert
ascetic, asceticism, monastic, monasticism
Migne Latin Text
Patrologiae Latinae Cursus Completus
Patrologia Latina
 

Back to Entry Page