Pammachius, St.
PAMMACHIUS, ST.
Roman senator; b. c. 340 of the Furian family; d. Rome, 409–10. He was a friend and fellow student of St. jerome in their youth, and Jerome's extant correspondence of later years includes a number of letters addressed to Pammachius, who was intensely interested in theological controversy, as well as one (Ep. 83) addressed to Jerome from Pammachius and Oceanus. Pammachius was married to Paulina, the second daughter of St. paula of Rome. After Paulina's death, near the end of the fourth century, Pammachius turned to the religious life and used his wealth for the care of the poor. In conjunction with St. fabiola he founded a hospice at Ostia, and he may have been a founder of the church of SS. John and Paul on the Caelius in Rome. He was termed ecclesiae munerarius by St. paulinus of nola (Ep. 13). St. augustine's Ep. 58 is addressed to Pammachius.
Feast: Aug. 30.
Bibliography: Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi epistulae, ed. i. hilberg, 3 v. (Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum 54–56; 1910–18) 48, 49, 57, 66, 83, 84, 97. Acta Sanctorum Aug. 6:555–563. f. cavallera, Saint Jérôme, 2 v. (Spicilegium sacrum Lovaniense 1, 2; 1922).
[t. c. lawler]