Melania the elder

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Melania (* 342 in Rome , † 409 in Jerusalem , also called Melania of Rome or Melania the Elder ) was a Roman noblewoman who made a pilgrimage to Egypt after the death of her husband and later became the founder of a monastery . She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches .

Life

Melania came from an ancient Roman family, her father or her grandfather was the consul Antonius Marcellinus (consulate 361-363), her cousin was Paulinus von Nola . At the age of 16 she married the Prefect Valerius Maximus, the marriage had three children. Her husband died when she was 22 years old, and two of her children had died by that time. Melania took care of her remaining young son Publicola, gave some of her property away and traveled to Egypt in 372 , where she visited the monks in the desert of Nitria and some of the Christians persecuted by Emperor Valens . She traveled on to the Holy Land , where she met Paula of Rome and Rufinus of Aquileia , with whom she founded a monastery on the Mount of Olives . She became the head of a community of about 50 nuns .

Her son Publicola married the noblewoman Albina Ceionia in 378, the marriage had at least one daughter born in Rome in 383, who was also named Melania after her grandmother .

Around 400 she visited her hometown again and met her granddaughter, who was considered the richest woman in Rome at the time and who inspired her to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On her return journey through North Africa before 408, Melania brought Augustine a letter from her cousin Paulinus von Nola in Hippo . She died in 409 shortly after she returned to Jerusalem.

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personal data
SURNAME Melania the elder
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Melania; Melanie the Elder; Melania of Rome
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman nobleman and monastery founder, saint of the Catholic and Orthodox Church
DATE OF BIRTH 342
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH 409
Place of death Jerusalem