Career
The Feast of Melania the Younger is held on December 31 (the Julian calendar"s December 31 falls on January 13 on the Gregorian calendar). In Ukraine, Malanka ("Melania"s Day") is celebrated on January 13. Melania and Pinianus left Rome in 408, living a monastic life near Messina (Sicily) for two years.
In 410, they traveled to Africa, where they befriended Augustine of Hippo and devoted themselves to a life of piety and charitable works.
Together they founded a convent of which Melania became Mother Superior, and cloister of which Pinianus took charge. In 417, they traveled to Palestine by way of Alexandria, living in a hermitage near the Mount of Olives, where Melania founded a second convent.
After the death of Pinianus c. 420, Melania built a cloister for men, and a church, where she spent the remainder of her life.
Melania had "vast domains in Sicily" and also held land in Britain.
An account of Melania"s pursuit of the ascetic life survives in a hagiography composed by Gerontius c.
