St. Jerome, who may or may not be responsible for the Latin Bible,
certifiably (and the term is unusually appropriate) wrote a number of
lengthy letters to a young woman whose name escapes me who had decided to
set up a proto-nunnery and asked the saint to help her develop a Rule. His
advice on the subject of the effect of women on men brightened long hours
in the lower circles of the Johns Hopkins library. Men are turned on by
cleanliness in a woman, he said, so bathing should be severely limited.
Hair is also a turn-on, so best to shave it off or cover it, and certainly
never wash it. Ears also get to men--cover or amputate. Note that the
traditional habits of most orders meet Jerome's criteria.
The idea seems to be that anything about a woman gets at least to St.
Jerome. It never occurred to him that he needed to get laid.
Starting with what one would have thought unpromising materials Chritianity
has produced marvels.
At 03:01 AM 10/20/1999 +0100, you wrote:
>St Jerome, Geoffrey Hill and Antonello da Messina
>
>Here is a the location on the web
>http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/a/antonell/stjerome.html
>
>containing the famous and spectacular painting of Saint Jerome in his study,
>by the Italian painter Antonello Da Messina (1474).
> It is, to me, the most striking work of art ever made to portray a Saint.
>What it is fascinating is the perfection of the compositional geometry and
>perspective
>of St Jerome's study as well the vividness and naturalness of the background
>rolling smoothly in the far distance......
>(St Jerome in his study is the title: Geoffrey Hill's sonnet "Ten years
>without you?for so it happens..."
>refers to this particular posture of St Jerome, the intellectual Saint.
>Antonello da Messina's painting of St Jerome is a masterpiece of virtuosism
>for the meticulousity of the study central area
>(a meticolosity which in the fisrt place eblonged to Saint Jerome himself,
>as stressed in his poem by Geoffre Hill.
>
>I hope you can enjoy this amazing work of art.
>
>Erminia
>
>
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