Mélanie l'Ancienne
vers 341-vers 410 4th century
Naming oneself by belonging to God, and not by what one owns.
Who was Mélanie l'Ancienne?
Widowed at twenty two, a wealthy Roman heiress, she sold what she had and left for Egypt, then Jerusalem. Her son, still a child, stayed in Rome in the care of a guardian. She founded a monastery on the Mount of Olives and kept its house for twenty seven years: she sheltered exiled bishops, stood up to governors, paid for copyists. Palladius, who knew her, set down her words as she said them.
In their own words
I am the daughter of such a man and the wife of such a man; I am Christ's slave.
In early days, when I came to Alexandria from Rome, I heard of his virtue, and I brought him a casket of silver, and besought him to take a part of my goods.
That you may know, Sir, how much there is, it amounts to three hundred pounds.