After these things occurred, aroused by divine zeal, (Melania) wished to build a monastery for holy men that they might carry out their nightly and daily psalmody without interruption at the place of the Ascension of the Lord and in the grotto where the Savior talked with his holy disciples about the end of time. Some people balked at her good proposal, however, alleging that she would not be able to complete such a great undertaking because of her extreme poverty. But the Lord, who is rich in everything, fulfilled the wishes of that holy soul by arranging for a certain man who loved Christ to offer her two hundred coins. Receiving them with great joy, she called the priest with her, whom she had taken from the world and presented to God as an offering — and that man was my own pitiable self — and said to him, "Since you believe that you will receive the compensation for this labor from the Lord in the ages to come, take these few coins and buy stones for us, so that we may begin the construction of the men's monastery, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus while I am still in the flesh I may see both the divine service being offered without interruption in the church and the bones of my mother and my master find rest through their chanting." And when, under God, she began this project, the Lord who worked with her in all things completed the vast undertaking in one year, so that everyone was astounded to learn that truly it was by a heavenly influence that the work had been accomplished. She lodged there holy men, lovers of God, who cheerfully performed the divine service in the Church of Christ's Ascension and in that of the Apostles, where the blessed ones were also buried.
(transl. Clark)
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