Lea, St. (d. about 383)
Lea, St. (d. about 383)
Saint. Died around 383; a widow.
What is known of St. Lea comes from a letter that St. Jerome sent to St. Marcella . From it we learn that Lea, following the death of her husband, gave up her life of wealth and privilege and retired to a Roman monastery, where she eventually rose to the position of superior. "Exchanging her rich attire for sackcloth, she ceased commanding others to obey all," he writes, "she lived in a corner with a few sticks of furniture; passed nights in prayer; instructed her companions by example rather than by protests and speeches; awaited her arrival in heaven to be rewarded for the virtues which she practised on earth." Jerome compares Lea's acceptance into Heaven to that of a recently dead consul, who enjoyed great wealth and admiration while he lived, but may encounter a lesser fate in the hereafter. "The fact is that he is plunged into outer darkness, while Lea, who was willing to be thought a dolt here below, has been received in the house of the Father, at the feast of the Lamb." Jerome goes on to encourage St. Marcella to renounce all that is of the flesh, "for our bodies will very soon be dust nor will anything else last longer."
sources:
Englebert, Omer. The Lives of The Saints. Translated by Christopher and Anne Fremantle. London: Thames and Hudson, 1951.