A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Paula, St.
PAULA, ST.,
A Roman lady of noble birth and great learning. She embraced Christianity; and when she became a widow, she retired to Bethlehem, where she built a monastery, and led a very devout and ascetic life. St. Jerome was the director of her charitable institutions, and he also taught her to read the Scriptures in Hebrew. She died in 407, aged sixty. It was said that she was descended from the families of the Gracchi and Scipios.