December 31st - St. Melania the Younger
Traudel
Born in Rome, Italy, c. 383; died in Jerusalem, December 31, 438 (or 439).
Melania was the product of several pious generations of the patrician Roman
family of the Valerii. Her grandmother, Saint Antonia Melania the Elder,
widow of Valerius Maximus, was one of the first Roman matrons to make a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land. When Melania the Elder moved to Egypt in 372
and then to Palestine to become a nun, she left behind her in Rome her
six-year-old son Valerius Publicola, who fathered today's saint and was a
Roman senator.
Antonia Melania the Younger began her life in the splendor of the Valerian
palace. She inherited a fantastic fortune-estates in what are now eight
modern countries. She controlled whole populations. Yet Melania chose
asceticism, which, according to Saint Jerome was inherited from her mother.
Her life made contact with several other saints, Saint Paulinus of Nola,
Augustine of Hippo, and Jerome-all of whom had a very high opinion of her
and her husband.
At age 13, Melania married her 17-year-old cousin Saint Valerius Pinianus
against her will. She suggested that they live together in celibacy, in
exchange for which he could have her entire fortune. He insisted that they
have two sons first. They had a daughter they vowed to virginity, then a
son. Both of whom died soon after birth. Melania seemed to be dying, too,
and made her recovery contingent upon a life of abstinence. Pinianus agreed
and she recovered.
Their religious devotion and austere lifestyle provoked opposition from
other family members. But after her father's death, her widowed mother,
Albina, the Christian daughter of a pagan priest, was also won over. The
couple then lived in simplicity as far as was possible. They struggled to
give away all their property-her annual income was the equivalent of about
US$20 million today. When they tried to sell their property for the good of
the poor and the Church, their family appealed to Emperor Honorius, who
sided with Melania. She became one of the greatest religious philanthropists
of all time: She endowed monasteries in Egypt, Syria, and Palestine; helped
churches and monasteries in Europe; aided the poor, sick, captives, and
pilgrims.
Not only did they provide charity out of their surplus, Melania and Pinianus
gave of themselves. They freed their 8,000 slaves in two years, but the
slaves refused to be freed, so they transferred themselves to Pinianus's
brother. By the time Melania was 20, Pinianus, Albina, and Melania left Rome
and turned their country estate into a religious center. Their palace became
a home for innumerable sick, prisoners, and exiles whom the couple
personally sought out.
When the Visigoths invaded Rome in 408, Pinianus and Melania moved to
Messina, Sicily. In 410, Rome was taken and their palace burned. Finding
Sicily in danger, they decided to cross the Mediterranean to Carthage with
the aged priest Rufinus. They were shipwrecked on the island of Lipari,
which Melania ransomed from pirates. Finally, they moved to their estate in
Tagaste, Numidia, in northern Africa. The saintliness of the couple quickly
became apparent to the denizens. The citizens of nearby Hippo demanded that
Saint Augustine ordain Pinianus at once. Augustine compromised by saying
that he should stay in Hippo for a time as a layman. The couple also
established a monastery and a convent, where she lived in great austerity.
By 417, most of their estates were sold and the couple was truly poor.
Melania, Pinianus, and Albina made a pilgrimage to Palestine, then visited
the desert monks in Egypt, and finally settled in Jerusalem, where Melania's
grandmother Antonia Melania had been living as a nun. Melania's cousin,
Saint Paula, introduced her to the group of Roman women in Bethlehem
presided over by Saint Jerome, whose friend she became.
After her mother Albina's death in 431, Melania established herself as a
recluse. She founded a monastery and sent her husband to seek out those with
vocations. He succeeded, then died in 432, and was buried on Mount Olivet
near her mother. Melania lived in a room near his tomb for four years until
she attracted numerous disciples. Then she founded and directed a convent to
care for the Church of the Ascension and sing the Divine Office continually
for her mother and husband. She shared in their life of prayer and good
works, and occupied herself with copying books.
Her uncle Volusianus wrote to her insinuating that she should consider
marriage to Emperor Valentinian III. She went to Constantinople, ingratiated
herself with the imperial family, then undertook a brisk campaign against
the Nestorian heresy, and fell ill. She converted her uncle and assisted him
to a holy death on January 6, 437.
Melania went to Bethlehem for her last Christmas and spent it with Saint
Paula. She returned to her convent for the feast of Saint Stephen and died
five days later, with Saint Paula, the monks, nuns, and the bishop present.
As she was dying Paula began crying and Melania consoled her.
Melania's biography was written by her chaplain, Gerontius. Although Melania
has been venerated in the Eastern Church for centuries, she has had no
cultus in the West. Pope Pius X, however, approved the observance of her
feast in 1908 for the Somaschi, an observance followed by the Latin
Catholics of Constantinople and Jerusalem (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney,
Encyclopedia, Martindale).
In art, Melania is generally shown praying in a cave, a skull and vegetables
near her (Roeder).
This Version Taken From:
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1231.shtml
Saint Quote:
Take this as a general rule: judge with charity all that you see others
doing. When that is not possible, excuse them and pray for them.
-St. Jane Frances de Chantal
Bible Quote
1 The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, of all things which Jesus began
to do and to teach, 2 Until the day on which, giving commandments by the
Holy Ghost to the apostles whom he had chosen, he was taken up. 3 To whom
also he shewed himself alive after his passion, by many proofs, for forty
days appearing to them, and speaking of the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:1-3)
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Prayer of a Sinner to the Queen of Heaven
O Queen of Heaven, Mother of holy love! since thou art the greatest of
creatures, the most beloved of God, and His greatest lover, be pleased to
allow the most miserable sinner living in this world, who, having by thy
means been delivered from Hell, and without any merit on his part been so
benefited by thee and who is filled with love for thee, to love thee. I wish
it were in my power, to let all men who know thee not how worthy thou art of
love, that all might love and honor thee.
I would desire to die for the love of thee, in defense of thy virginity, of
thy dignity of Mother of God, of thy Immaculate Conception, should this be
necessary, to uphold these thy great privileges. Ah! my most beloved Mother
accept this my ardent desire, and never allow a servant of thine, to become
the enemy of thy God, whom thou lovest so much.
Alas! poor me, I was so for a time, when I offended my Lord. But then, O
Mary, I loved thee but little, and strove but little to be beloved by thee.
But now there is nothing that I so much desire, after the grace of God, as
to love and be loved by thee. I am not discouraged on account of my past
sins, for I know that thou, O most benign and gracious Lady, dost not
disdain to love even the most wretched sinners, nay more, that thou never
allowest thyself to be surpassed by any in love.
Ah! Queen most worthy of love, I desire to love thee in Heaven. There, at
thy feet, I shall better know how worthy thou art of love, how much thou
hast done to save me; and thus I shall love thee with greater love, and
without fear of ever ceasing to love thee.
O Mary, I hope most certainly to be saved by thy means. Nothing else is
needed; thou hast to save me; thou art my hope. I will therefore always sing
O Mary, my hope, thou hast to save me.
Amen.
by Saint Alphonsus Liguori