Joan M. Petersen (1914-1994) was educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and St Anne's College, Oxford. For many years she was Church history editor for the S.P.C.K., London. After her retirement from that position, she enrolled in the University of London and was awarded the Ph.D. Her book-length study of The Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great in their Late Antique Cultural Background was published by the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto.

• Table of ContentsAbbreviations   9Translator’s Preface   11Publisher’s Note   131.  Feminine Monasticism in the First Six Christian Centuries: An Historical Introduction   152.  Macrina: A Domestic Monastery in Cappadocia   39Introduction   41The Life of Saint Macrina by Gregory of Nyssa   513.  Ancillae Domini in the Roman Empire: Letters of Saint Jerome to Ascetic Women in the Roman Empire   87Historical Introductoin by S. L. Greenslade   89Marcella, Lea, Asella, and Principia: Widows and Virgins in Rome   101Paula the Elder: An Ascetic Pilgrim to Rome and Bethlehem   123Eustochium: The Theology of Feminine Asceticism   169Demetrias: An Ascetic Exile in North Africa   219Paul the Younger and Pacatula: How to Raise Young Virgins   2514.  Melania the Elder and Melania the Younger: Ascetic Matrons in Egypt and Jerusalem  281Introduction   283Melania the Elder, by Palladius (The Lausiac History)   299Melania the Younger, by Palladius   308The Life of the Holy Melania by Gerontius   3115.  Radegunde: A Royal Foundress in Gaul   363Introduction   365The Life of Saint Radegunde   381Book One, by Venantius Fortuanatus   381Book Two, by the nun Baudonivia   401The Death and Funeral of Radegunde, by Gregory of Tours   429Appendix: The Sisters of Sainte-Croix de Poitiers   433Suggestions for Further Reading   435