Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VI/The Letters of St. Jerome/Letter 64

Letter LXIV. To Fabiola.

Fabiola&#8217;s visit to Bethlehem had been shortened by the threatened invasion of the Huns which compelled Jerome and his friends to take refuge for a time on the seaboard of Palestine. Fabiola here took leave of her companions and set sail for Italy, but not until Jerome had completed this letter for her use (&#167;22). It contains a mystical account of the vestments of the High Priest worked out with Jerome&#8217;s usual ingenuity and learning. Similar treatises are ascribed to Tertullian and to Hosius bishop of Cordova, but these have long since perished. Its date is 396 or 397