Virgins Romula

Saint Romula was a consecrated virgin of sixth-century Rome whose memory is preserved almost entirely through the testimony of Pope Saint Gregory the Great. In the fourth book of his Dialogues, composed in the 590s, Gregory recounts her life as an illustration of patient suffering and of a death accompanied by heavenly signs. She belonged to a small community of women living a monastic and eremitical life in the city, associated with the neighborhood of the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, later known as Santa Maria Maggiore. Her spiritual mother was Saint Redempta, who had herself been formed by the recluse Saint Herundo. Together they represent a strand of Roman female asceticism that continued the tradition of consecrated virgins living in private houses or small hermitages rather than in large coenobitic monasteries.

Under Redempta's direction Romula and another companion devoted themselves to prayer, the recitation of the psalms, and works of piety. Gregory does not record her family origin or the year of her birth, and no independent contemporary document supplies those details. What he emphasizes is the character of her vocation: a hidden life of consecration in the heart of Rome during a period of political upheaval, as the city passed through Gothic wars and Byzantine restoration. The little household of women lived in poverty and recollection, following a rule of silence, fasting, and liturgical prayer typical of Roman recluses of that age.

For many years Romula was afflicted with a grave paralysis that left her confined to her bed. Gregory presents this long illness not as a misfortune that interrupted her vocation but as the means by which her perseverance was perfected. Despite her inability to move, she continued to occupy herself with prayer and psalmody, offering her suffering in union with her consecration. The pope holds her up as an example of how bodily weakness can coexist with unwearied spiritual labor, a theme that recurs in his portraits of Roman holy women.

Gregory relates that as her death approached, extraordinary signs were granted. In the night a great light filled the cell and a fragrance of unusual sweetness spread through the house. A choir of voices was heard singing, as though a company of saints had come to escort her soul. After the singing had lasted for some time, the sound gradually receded and seemed to rise toward heaven. Romula then died in peace. Gregory states that he received this account from witnesses who had been present, including a devout woman who later described the events to him. The narrative belongs to the genre of the holy death in early medieval hagiography, in which light, fragrance, and angelic or saintly song mark the passing of the just.

The Roman Martyrology commemorates Saint Romula on 23 July as a virgin of Rome who, though long paralyzed, served God with constant prayer and psalmody and was called to her heavenly spouse. No precise year of birth or death has been preserved; her passing is placed in the later sixth century, within the living memory of Gregory and his informants. She was never the object of a large popular cult, and no extensive list of patronages is attached to her name. Her historical importance lies in the window Gregory opens onto the quiet world of Roman consecrated virgins and in the pastoral use he made of her story to encourage the faithful in patience and hope of eternal life.