St. Melania the Younger

Melania the Younger belonged to a wealthy Roman family and married Pinian. After the deaths of their children, they agreed to live in continence and devote themselves more fully to God. Butler carefully distinguishes her from her grandmother, Melania the Elder, whose story occupies the opening part of the notice.

With her mother Albina, Melania and Pinian distributed property for works of mercy, supported churches and helped people in need. Their journeys led through Italy and Africa before they settled at Jerusalem. Prayer, reading and the copying of religious books accompanied their service and their increasingly simple life.

After her mother and husband died, Melania governed a religious community of women at Jerusalem. Butler also recalls her journey to Constantinople and the conversion of her uncle Volusian. Her last Christmas visit to Bethlehem preceded the illness in which she died on December 31, 439. The remembrance here concerns the younger Melania, with the two generations kept distinct.