DO DESLEIXO COM A HIGIENE COMO
NOBRE VIA DE ACESSO À SANTIDADE


S. Jerónimo, St. Paula e St. Eustáquia
- Francisco de Zurbarán, 1638-1640

"[Christian ascetic holy men and women] (...) created an idiom of self-mortification which potential saints would systematically seek to copy in the future, with hair shirts, flesh-eating tight belts, chains and the like. Their less extreme acts could be copied by everybody, such as the pious Roman aristocratic women Paula and Melania, whose choice to walk around fourth-century Rome in rags, unwashed and smelly, was eulogized by Jerome in disturbingly lip-smacking terms" (The Inheritance Of Rome/A History Of Europe From 400 To 1000 - Chris Wickham)

(2010)