Melania was a part of the first generation of Roman aristocrats who were encouraged to embrace Christianity, and lived to see it become the official religion of the Roman Empire. She was born in 341 in Spain and moved to Rome following her marriage, where she was widowed at the age of 22. Only one of her children, a son, survived, and she gave him into the care of a guardian so that she might pursue a monastic vocation.

Leaving Rome, she went t…