he Church in a relation of peculiar tenderness
between the priest and the devotee.

"Many women followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him." With
what godlike benignity he spoke to the Samaritan woman, to the
Syrophenician woman, and to the poor adulteress! With what
indescribable compassion he turned to the women who accompanied him
towards Calvary, bewailing and lamenting him, and said, "Daughters of
Jerusalem, weep not for me". And what words shall be set beside those
which fell from his lips when, as he hung on the cross, he saw his
mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, and he saith unto
his mother, "Woman, behold thy son!" then he saith to the disciple,
"Behold thy mother!" Verily, from that hour, the Church has taken
woman to itself, as the recipient of a ministration full of respect
and purity. In any enumeration of renowned ecclesiastical
friendships, Saint Chrysostom and Saint Olympias, the gold-mouthed
bishop of Constantinople and the rich and noble widow, deserve to
head the list. Under the guidance of the eloquent preacher, she
labored to perfect herself in the religious life, and gave her time
and wealth to all kinds of charity and good works. From her Christian
affection he drew precious strength and comfort. When he was carried
from his church and driven into exile, the weeping Olympias fell at
his feet, and clasped them so closely that the officers had to use
force in tearing him from her. Sixteen letters addressed to her by
Chrysostom during his banishment are still extant, silently
pronouncing her eulogy throughout the Christian world. A friendship
like the foregoing, only still more complete, was that of Saint
Jerome and Saint Paula. The talents, scholarship, services, and
enthusiasm of Jerome are universally known; and the chief personal
attachment of his life is scarcely less familiar to the public.
Paula, immortalized not less in literary history as his friend than
in the ecclesiastical calendar for her virtues, was one of the most
distinguished women of the age. She had great riches and high rank,
as well as pronounced talents and worth. The blood of the Scipios, of
the Gracchi, and of Paulus Emilius, met in her veins. Jerome was her
spiritual director at Rome for two years and a half-her other soul
while life remained. She built and supported at her own expense an
extensive monastery for Jerome and his monks at Bethlehem. When she
died, Jerome wrote to her daughter the long