Whilst Therasia of Nola embraced religious life alongside Paulinus, Amanda and Aper's partnership was different.
In their case, Aper took a religious life, whilst his wife Amanda took on the 'worldly responsibilities' so he could focus on the spiritual.
[4] Through her practicality Amanda enabled spiritual growth for her husband so he could become a religious leader - Paulinus wrote to them both in praise stating: "You have passed from your bodies into Christ's".
[5] Amanda is held up as an example of how valuable secular support for religious life was and how women in the Late Roman world had financial agency within marriage.
[6] Amanda was a correspondent and supporter of the church, through her marriage to Aper, a Roman provincial lawyer, governor and later monk.