c. 383–439
Saint Melania the Younger
A wealthy Roman aristocrat who, after the death of her children, gave her fortune to the poor, lived as an ascetic in Jerusalem and founded a monastery there, where she died in 439.
Biography
Melania came from a wealthy Roman senatorial family and was married young, against her will, to her cousin Pinianus. They had two children, both of whom died.
After the deaths of her children, her husband and her parents, she withdrew to a country estate, devoting herself to prayer and study, giving away her entire fortune to the poor and sick, and copying sacred books.
She travelled widely helping the suffering and eventually settled in Jerusalem, where she founded a convent for ninety virgins and died of pleurisy in 439.