As long as there’s been Christian faith, there have been ascetics—athletes of prayer—and these athletes, both female and male, have sought ways to live in intentional community. Experiments in communal life went on in every corner of the Empire—in Egypt, Palestine, Rome, Cappadocia, Athens, Antioch, Africa—and involved the greatest names in the early Church.

LINKS

Tertullian, On the Veiling of Virgins https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1699

Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Virgins https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2092

Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Widows https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2070

Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2272

Augustine of Hippo, Of Holy Virginity https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3280

John Cassian, Institutes https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2106

Palladius, Lausiac History https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/palladius_lausiac_02_text.htm

Mike Aquilina’s website https://fathersofthechurch.com

Mike Aquilina’s books https://catholicbooksdirect.com/writer/mike-aquilina/

Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed http://www.ccwatershed.org

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