MARCELLA, saint. – Noble Roman widow, disciple of s. Girolamo. Born around 335, while still very young she came to know s. Atanasio (339 or 340) and the two monks who had accompanied him to Rome, Ammonio and Isidoro. From them M. learned the wondrous tales of the desert, populated by solitaries, and from Atanasio she received as a gift the life, written by him himself, of s. Antonio, who was still living in the Thebaid.
Widowed after seven months of marriage, she refused to marry the wealthy Cereale; she established a hermitage in her own palace on the Aventine, and in 374 her resolve was confirmed by the monk Pietro, who had come from Egypt. Other women of the Roman aristocracy followed M.’s example, forming on the Aventine the first monastery, in the broad sense, of which there is evidence in Rome.
From 382 to 385 s. Girolamo became their spiritual director, resolving day by day the difficulties they encountered in reading the sacred texts. To M. Girolamo dedicated a book of sixteen epistles (De viris illustribus, CXXXV: Ad Marcellam epistularum liber unus).
After Girolamo departed for the East, the Aventine community gradually dissolved: M. at first withdrew with Principia to a villa in the suburbs. Between 400 and 403 she worked very actively with Pammachio and Oceano, before Pope Anastasio, for the condemnation of Origene.
In 410 she witnessed the sack of Rome; she was beaten by Alarico’s soldiers because they had not found the riches they expected; nevertheless, she obtained permission to accompany Principia to the basilica of S. Paolo, where a few days later she died in her arms. Girolamo praised her in a letter to Principia (Ep. 127: PL 22). The Martirologio romano commemorates her feast on 31 January.