St. Macarius of Egypt
Macario was born in upper Egypt, around 300, and spent his youth as a shepherd. Driven by an intense grace, retired from an early age, confined to a narrow cell where he divided his time between prayer, penitential practices and the manufacture of mats. A woman falsely accused him that he had attempted to do violence. As a result, Macario was dragged through the streets, beaten and treated as hypocritical disguised as a monk. All suffered with patience, and even sent the woman the product of his work, saying: "Macario, now you have to work harder, because you have to hold to another." But God made known his innocence: the woman who had slandered him could not give birth until they revealed the name of the father of the child. This brings the fury of the people turned to admiration for the humility and patience of a saint. To escape the esteem of men, Macario took refuge in the vast desert Scete melancholy, when I was about thirty years. Here he lived sixty years and was the s...