Melania the Elder

 Melania the Elder, Monastic, 410

Most High and Merciful God, who called your servant Melania to forsake earthly comforts in order to devote herself to studying the scriptures and to welcoming the poor: Instruct us in the ways of poverty and the grace of hospitality, that we might comfort those who have no place to rest and teach the way of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Melania the Elder, (born in Spain, ca. 350–died in Jerusalem before 410 or in c. 417) was a Desert Mother who was an influential figure in the Christian ascetic movement (the Desert Fathers and Mothers) that sprang up in the generation after the Emperor Constantine made Christianity a legal religion of the Roman Empire.*

*The Lectionary, http://satucket.com/lectionary/Melania_elder.html