Die Vita Pauli des Hieronymus

Paul of Thebes was the first monk to live in the desert according to Church Father Jerome, whose short work, the Vita Pauli, features fantastic occurrences and delights with literary brilliance. As such it has intrigued and irritated readers ever since. Up until now, research has mainly interpreted the »Life of Paul« as the product of a young author's literary ambitions and extensively investigated its form and content. Whether or not Paul existed at all has also been discussed at length. These approaches have seen the religious aspect of the work often disappear from view. But the Vita Pauli very much portrays a saint who is established as such in late antiquity's hagiographic discourse. Yorick Schulz-Wackerbarth takes up the lead and reveals what notions of holiness the saint portrayed by Jerome conveys.