Primary source · Latin
The Life of Paul the First Hermit
Jerome · c. AD 375–377
What this text is
Jerome's desert debut: the hermit older than Antony, the raven's doubled loaf, and the two lions who dig the grave — hagiography written with a novelist's hand.
Profile of Jerome of Stridon →
Public-domain translations
W. H. Fremantle (NPNF, 1893)
While they talked, a raven settled on a bough, and softly flying down laid a whole loaf before their wondering eyes. 'See,' said Paul, 'the Lord truly loving, truly merciful, has sent us a meal. For sixty years I have received half a loaf: at your coming Christ has doubled his soldier's rations.'
Manuscript witnesses
Jerome corpus manuscripts
6th c. onwardThe Vita Pauli, Jerome's first book, among the most copied of his works.
Patrologia Latina, vol. 23 (Migne)
1845Standard pre-critical text of the corpus.
Provenance
The desert of Chalcis, c. AD 375 — the first hermit before Antony
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Jérôme: Trois vies de moines (SC 508)E. M. Morales & P. Leclerc, 2007Critical edition of the three monastic lives.
- Early Christian LivesCarolinne White, 1998English translation (Penguin Classics).