Page:A short history of nursing - Lavinia L Dock (1920).djvu/64

48 A Short History of Nursing in it as a nurse, carrying the patients into it and bathing their wounds and sores ; Paula, who knew classic languages and assisted St. Jerome in trans- lating the prophets, and who with her daughter devoted immense wealth to the building and main- tenance of hospitals and inns for travellers on the routes to Jerusalem ; and many others. Probably no group of women ever associated with hospital and nursing organization has surpassed these in intellectual powers and commanding force of character. The period of their activity was after the early persecutions of Christians, for Constan- tine had made Christianity the state religion in 324. But they lived to see the Goths and bar- barians penetrate the empire, and during the sack of Rome by Alaric, Marcella was killed. The gradual disintegration of the Roman power and the general disorganization of society following upon repeated invasions brought the church promi- nently to the front as the one uniting and subduing influence, and the Roman Matrons bent their energies to the founding of monasteries where women might at once find not only refuge and security, but opportunity to conserve and upbuild Monastic civilization under Christian auspices, women From the Roman pattern given in Marcella's home, similar monastic groups were