L’alimentazione secondo Girolamo: cibis praeferto doctrinam

The theme of fasting and dietary discipline that Christians must observe according to Jerome is analyzed, based on what emerges from passages in Book II of Adversus Iovinianum and from letters addressed to both female and male recipients. These texts reveal motivations of a religious, moral, economic, as well as medical and cultural nature. Alongside scriptural exempla, Jerome’s reflections also include those derived from pagan cultural tradition. The Christian élite were attributed with wisdom-based paradigms that combined culture and moderation in food, and God’s chosen ones—men and women who embraced asceticism—were not unlike profane philosophers. It was a set of behavioral norms through which to construct an identity that would ensure a position of preeminence and additional prestige in society