Primary source · Latin
Against Jovinianus
Jerome · AD 393
What this text is
Jerome at his most unguarded: the two books against the monk who taught that baptized virgins, widows, and wives stand equal — so vehement that Jerome's own friends tried to recall the copies.
Profile of Jerome of Stridon →
Public-domain translations
W. H. Fremantle (NPNF, 1893)
He has attempted to teach that virgins, widows, and married women… are of the same merit, if they do not differ in other works. I do not disparage wedlock when I set virginity above it: the church does not condemn marriage, but subordinates it.
Manuscript witnesses
Jerome corpus manuscripts
medievalAdversus Jovinianum, the treatise even Jerome's friends thought too harsh.
Patrologia Latina, vol. 23 (Migne)
1845Standard pre-critical text of the corpus.
Provenance
Bethlehem, AD 393 — the fiercest defence of asceticism's hierarchy
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity: The Jovinianist ControversyDavid G. Hunter, 2007The standard modern study of the whole affair.
- St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works (NPNF II/6)W. H. Fremantle, 1893Public-domain English of the treatise.