CONCERNING ST. PAULA, SURNAMED BARBATA, VIRGIN OF AVILA IN SPAIN.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Paula, surnamed Barbata, Virgin of Avila in Spain (St.)
By I. B.
[1] Christ God, who deigns to unite holy Virgins to Himself by a mystical marriage, often protects them in many and wondrous ways against those who lie in ambush against their chastity. For to some He supplies minds so firm and great that they dare to disfigure even with wounds and blows their own beauty, by which they sense danger is created for them -- Virgins miraculously snatched from peril as those in England who scarred their own noses, lips, eyelids, and cheeks with iron, lest they be exposed to the lust of the Danes. What shall we say of those who allowed pigeon flesh to putrefy between their breasts and under their arms, so that the intolerable stench might both torment themselves, leaving no room for the enticements pressed upon them, and drive far away those who were impurely inciting them? One woman even had her neck severed, by a false demonstration of an ointment said to be effective against wounds, in order to redeem herself from the violence planned against her by a lascivious soldier. But those who lacked either the weapons for such heroic ventures or the opportunity -- them God either fixed in place with an unusual heaviness, so that they could not be dragged to shameful places, as He did with Lucy; or fortified them with the protection of a standing Angel, as with Cecilia; or surrounded them with a terrifying light, as with Agnes. Of others He disfigured the beauty of their countenance, since they prayed for this for the security of their virtue: thus Brigid, lest she be compelled by her brothers to marry, lost one eye along with a remarkable disfigurement of her whole face, yet recovered it when the danger had passed. Most famous in this kind is the story of the Lusitanian Virgin Wilgefortis, for whom a beard that sprouted to avert marriage became also the occasion for winning the palm of martyrdom. among whom is Paula Somewhat similar was the fortune of Paula of Avila, although it is not established whether she shed her blood. She is called Barbata from what happened to her. Gonzalo Ayora, a citizen of Avila, is said to have written her Life in the Spanish language. In Latin, Juan Tamayo Salazar has presented it in his Notes on the Spanish Martyrology at February 20, page 193. I shall briefly summarize it here.
[2] Paula was born in a town of the diocese of Avila, which is now called Cardenosa, of parents who were farmers. When she grew up, admirably formed in piety, she frequently traveled to Avila and poured out prayers at the place where she had learned the body of St. Secundus, Bishop and Martyr of Avila, was buried, asking that he be her patron and defender. Since she was of exceptional beauty, a wanton young man happened to cast his eyes upon her, and was so inflamed with desire for her that, when he saw her spirit could not be moved by prayers, she flees from an impure youth, fearing violence promises, or even tears, he resolved to use force. Having observed a favorable time and place, he set out for the countryside at dawn in hunting garb. He saw the pious Virgin from a distance setting out for her accustomed devotions, and thinking his prey had been offered to him, directed his steps toward her. When Paula perceived this, like a frightened dove she flew away with the greatest speed, with the nefarious hunter in pursuit. When she could scarcely now escape him, she threw herself into a small church situated outside the city walls, and embracing the feet of the Crucifix dedicated to the Martyr Lawrence. Here, embracing the feet of the Crucifix, with not many words but uttered with that ardor of soul which extreme necessity provoked, she beseeched Him to protect her and to change the appearance of her face, by which the wretch had been captivated, and to defile it with some remarkable deformity, so that he might turn from her, abhor her, and flee. The Spouse assented to her prayers; and immediately her face was divinely disfigured, while the brightness within her soul was increased: a beard sprouts and she is preserved a rough beard sprouted, her brow was distorted, her cheeks were fouled in a hideous manner. Meanwhile the young man burst in, but did not recognize the one he was madly in love with; he asked where that girl who had entered the church a moment before had gone. The bearded Virgin denied that she had seen any person besides herself. He rushed out in agitation and for several days searched every winding of roads and hedges to seize his prey. The bearded woman, having given thanks to Christ, went to the church of St. Secundus, and next to it, in a humble dwelling, spent the rest of her life, she lives a holy life at Avila with a distinguished reputation for innocence and piety. At length, conspicuous also for miracles she had worked, she was called to the immaculate bridal chamber of her Spouse in heaven, and was buried there by the Christians next to the tomb of St. Secundus himself.
[3] So writes Ayora, derived from common tradition received from his forebears, as Tamayo judges, without any indication of date or other details to firmly establish it. Tamayo himself believes she lived in the times of Diocletian, moved by the authority of Julian of Toledo, who wrote over a thousand years ago; in the 4th century, as is believed for in his collection of various poems, in the penultimate place, he recites this: