Translation: The Life of Saint Melania the Younger
Translation: The Life of Saint Melania the Younger
Blessing, Father:
Blessed be the Lord, who has stirred your Reverence, holy priest, to ask my humble person for an account of the life of our holy mother Melania the Roman, who dwells with the angels.1 Since I spent considerable time with her, I have a slight knowledge of the senatorial family from which she sprang and how, having forsaken the vanity of the world, she started out on an angelic way of life. But since I know my own shortcomings only too well, I considered myself incapable of narrating such great struggles. I rather decided that it was safer to refuse, believing that I could better exalt the noble servant of God by my silence than insult her outstanding achievements through my idle words. However, since you, holy priest, promised again to help me through your pious prayers, I took courage through the power of the [Holy] Spirit: I am preparing to throw myself into the infinite sea of narration, looking forward to the celestial reward for my obedience....
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