Melania the Elder

Venerable Melania the Elder of Rome.

St. Melania was a Roman noblewoman of one of the wealthiest families of the empire who, in the era of the great flowering of monasticism, renounced rank and riches for the sake of Christ. She gave her vast possessions to the poor and to the churches, freed those enslaved to her household, and devoted herself to asceticism, prayer, and the service of the monks and holy places of the East, ending her days in the Holy Land.

She is honored as a model of voluntary poverty embraced out of love for God. She is commemorated on December 31.

Feast day

On the New Calendar, Melania the Elder is commemorated on December 31. Churches on the Old (Julian) Calendar keep the feast on January 13 of the civil calendar.

Who celebrates a name day

People with these names keep their name day on this feast:

Melania, Melanie

Also commemorated on December 31

• Zoticus the Orphan-keeper

  Martyr, Ζωτικός ο Ορφανοτρόφος

  Holy Martyr Zoticus the Priest, keeper of orphans and lepers in Constantinople.

• Theophylact of Ochrid

  Hierarch, Θεοφύλακτος Βουλγαρίας

  Theophylact of Euripos, Archbishop of Ochrid and All Bulgaria, commentator on the Scriptures.

• Gelasius the Venerable

  Venerable, Γελάσιος

  Venerable Gelasius.

• Ten Holy Virgins

  Holy Woman, Δέκα Παρθένες

  The Ten Holy Virgin Martyrs.

• Olympiodora the Martyr

  Holy Woman, Ολυμπιοδώρα

  Holy Martyr Olympiodora.

Icon: public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.