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
Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio