The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

Gerontius, Life of Melania the Younger 5

Gerontius recounts the birth of Melania's second child:

Ὅτε δέ λοιπὸν αἱ εὐχαὶ τῆς ἁγίας συνήργησαν καὶ γέγονεν πρὸς τὸ τίκτειν τὸ δεύτερον παιδίον, ἔφθασεν ἡ μνήμη τοῦ ἁγίου Λαυρεντίου · καὶ μηδὲ ὅλως ἑαυτὴν ἀναπαύσασα, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν τὴν νύκτα ἐν ἀγρυπνία καὶ γυνυκλισίας καταναλώσασα ἐν τῷ ἑατῆς εὐκτηρίῳ τῇ ἐπαύριον μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας μητρὸς καὶ ἀπελθοῦσα ἐν τῷ μαρτυρίῳ μετὰ πολλῶν δακρύων τῷ Θεῷ προσηύξατο, ὅπως ἐλευθερωθεῖσα τοῦ κόσμου ἐν τῷ μονήρει βίῳ τὸν ἐπίλοιπον τῆς ζωῆς αὐτῆς χρόνον διατελέση · τοῦτο γὰρ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπεπόθησεν. Καὶ ἐπανελθοῦσα ἐκ τοῦ μαρτυρίου σφοδρῶς ἐδυστόκησεν καὶ τικτεται ἄωρον τὸ παιδίον · ἄρσεν δὲ ἧν καὶ βαπτισθὲν ἀπῆλθεν πρὸς τὸν Κύριον.

'Later on, when the prayers of the saint had taken effect and she was about to give birth to her second child, the feast of Saint Lawrence arrived. Without taking any rest and having spent the whole night kneeling in her chapel, keeping vigil, at dawn the next day she rose early and went with her mother to the church of the martyr. With many tears she prayed to God that she might be freed from the world and spend the rest of her days in the solitary life, for this is what she had yearned for from the beginning. And when she returned from the martyr's shrine, she commenced a difficult labor and gave birth prematurely to a child. It was a boy, and after he was baptized, he departed for the Lord.'

In the Latin version of the text, the author extends the story of her vigil. He tells that her father opposed her excessive piety and sent his eunuchs to make sure that she was resting in her room. Melania, who had spent the whole night in prayer, bribed them to report that this was so.


Text: Gorce 1962, pp. 134, 136.
Translation: Clark 1984, p. 29.

Saint’s feast

Cult building - independent (church)

Vigils

Women

Source

Discussion

Bibliography