The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-10-24
RICHEST OF ALL WOMEN
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
 N ARDINAL Rampolla secretary of
 " state to Pope Leo XIII, dis
 O covered among the manuscripts of the Escurial when he was Papal Nun cio at Madrid, a biography of Saint Mei- ania the Younger, which he has lately translated, edited and had printed at the vatican press. What follows is an abridg
 ment of his narrative.
 The author, of this biography was
 named Gerontius From A. D. 4o5 until
 439 he was in the service of and daily association with Melania. and after her death he succeeded her as the head of a
 monastery which she founded. An eye
 witness, he tells who Melania was. the amount of her fortune and what she did with 1t.
 Melania and her husband were both l Christians and wished to follow literally
 the Saviour's precept "Go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven" | They therefore resolved to devote their | imense possessions to the cause of Christ History records that during the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century
 after Christ certain patrician Roman fam files amassed enormous wealth. Mel
 ania's fortune surpassed all others and
 consisted of villa on the Coellan at
 Rome which enclosed porticoed courts,
 circus, hippodrome and imense gardens.
 It's buildings were decorated with paint ings, mosaics. statues, sculpture and
 precious marbles, cared for and served by
 gardeners, butchers, bakers, cooks, wait
 ing women, valets and all the best of
 necessary slaves.
 A rural domain at the fifth milestone on the Appian way three miles In circum- ference--its ruins have yielded many mar | bles to the vatican museum.
 | An estate on the northern coast of Sicily titled by eight thousand slaves. | Estates in Africa, Numidia. Mauritania, | in Britian, in Spain and in Gaul with | enough slaves to cultivate them.
 Her yearly revenues, It is estimated, amounted to scores of millions of dol-
 lars They may well have exceeded the
 civil list of any emperor or potentate who ever lived, and were probably greater
 than any other woman ever possessed. It Is not known what use Melania made
 of her wealth before she decided to rid
 herself of 1t; her biographer begins his
 story only when she had so resolved.
 Melania found it very difficult to follow
 the command of her Master; public
 opinion, custom and above all the law
 of the empire forbade. The Roman law
 then prohibited. except under certain re- strictions, the alienation of real estate.
 Then, when this husband and wife de- cided to obey Christ's command they were minors and they could not sell their real estate without a decree ratified by the Roman senate.
 At the instigation of a brother-in-law
 the slaves of the property on the Via Ap
 pia rose in insurrection, insisting that
 they preferred slavery with it's sure maintenance to freedom with uncer-
 tain future and they were only paeified
 when made over to the brother-in-law
 with a gratuity of three gold pennies
 apiece.
 How hard 1t was to become poor! An imperial edict alone could overcome the oposition of relatives, of the law and of the senate. This Melania secured through the favor of Serena, who was a niece of the Emperor Theodoslus and his adopted daughter; the wife of Stilicho and
 the mother-in-law of Honorus, the son and successor of Theodosius. For many years Stilcho and Serena had been the actual rulers of the western half of the Roman empire
 Public rumor, which had been busy with Melania's future, blaming or praising as prejudice or religious swayed, had aroused the Queens curiosity and its ob- ject had been several times bidden to the
 imperial palace. commands which had invariably been dsobeyed. In the spring of A. D. 404 the disobedient one remem- bered that the imperial power could un-
 make as we'll as make laws and could smooth her difficult road to poverty. Accompanied by her husband, several bishops and Gerontius, who chronicles the event, she went to the Palatine. Her train included slaves bearing many and costly presents. the customary offerings to the powerful and their court. Closely