Demetrias

DEMETRIAS. - Roman virgin and disciple of St. Jerome, daughter of the consul and senator Olybrius, of the family of the Probi, and of Juliana, of the Anician family, born between the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th. Having taken refuge in Carthage during the invasion of the empire by the Goths, she won the admiration and goodwill of all by her beauty and her rare moral virtues. She was on the point of embracing the married state when, having heard a discourse of St. Augustine on the merits of virginity, she decided to consecrate herself entirely to God. Then St. Jerome, at the invitation of her mother and her grandmother Proba, addressed a letter to her, in order to confirm her in the path she had undertaken and to warn her of the dangers that would severely test her resolve.

Besides Augustine and Jerome, Pope Innocent I and Pelagius, not yet an open supporter of his heterodox ideas, also addressed various writings to her. Before long the example of D. was followed by many of her relatives and her servants, so that her house was turned into a domestic monastery. With the changing course of events she returned to Rome, persevering always in her ascetic resolve and benefiting all. Under the pontificate of St. Leo (440-61) she built at her own expense the basilica of St. Stephen on the Via Latina. This is the last certain piece of information we have about D.

Emanuele Romanelli