Epistle of st. Paul the apostle to the Romans

ST. PAUL wrote this Epistle at Corinth, when he was preparing to go to Jerusalem with the charitable contributions collected in Achaia and Macedonia for the relief of the Christians in Judea; which was about twenty-four years after our Lord's Ascension. It was written in Greek; but at the same time translated into Latin, for the benefit of those who did not understand that language. And though it is not the first of his Epistles in the order of time, yet it is first placed on account of the sublimity of the matter contained in it, of the pre-eminence of the place to which it was sent, and in veneration of the Church.