MELANIA SENIORE. - A noble Roman matron of Spanish origin, born in Rome in 349–50, died in Jerusalem on 8 June 410. While still very young, she married the illustrious Valerio Massimo. At the age of twenty-two she was widowed, with a six-year-old son, whom she left in the care of a guardian in order to go to Palestine and devote the remainder of her life to recollection and prayer.
In 378 she built a monastery on the Mount of Olives and gathered fifty virgins around herself. After about thirty years’ residence in the East, she returned to Rome in order to strengthen her niece, Melania Giuniore (v.), in her ascetic resolve. During the journey she stopped at Nola, to greet
Bishop Paolino. In 403 he again left Italy for Jerusalem.