Difference between revisions of "A Lady In Gaul Hedibia"

<p> <b> Hedibia </b> (EDIBIA), a lady in Gaul, who corresponded with St. [[Jerome]] (then at Bethlehem) <i> c. </i> 405. She was descended from the Druids, and held the hereditary office of priests of Belen (= Apollo) at Bayeux. Her grandfather and father (if <i> majores </i> is to be taken strictly) Patera and Delphidius (the names being in each case derived from their office) were remarkable men. Of Patera, Jerome says in his <i> Chronicle </i> , under a.d. 339, "Patera rhetor Romae gloriosissime docet." Delphidius was a writer in prose and verse and a celebrated advocate. Ammianus [[Marcellinus]] (xviii. 1) tells of his pleading before the emperor Julian. Both became professors at [[Bordeaux]] (Ausonius, <i> Carmen </i> , Prof. Burd. iv. and v.). The wife and daughter of Delphidius became entangled in the Zoroastrian teaching of Priscillian, and suffered death in the persecution of his followers (Sulp. Sev. <i> Hist. Sac. </i> ii. 63, 64; [[Prosper]] Aquit. <i> Chron. </i> ; Auson. <i> Carmen </i> , v.). Hedibia was a diligent student of Scripture, and, finding no one to assist her, sent, by her friend Apodemius, a list of questions to Jerome. He answered them in a long letter ( <i> Ep. </i> 120, ed. Vall.). We hear of her again as a friend of Artemia, wife of Rusticus, on whose account she again wrote to Jerome ( <i> Ep. </i> 122, ed. Vall.). </p> <p> [W.H.F.] </p>