Fantinus

ON ST. FANTINUS, MONK AND CONFESSOR,

AT THESSALONICA IN MACEDONIA,

Perhaps in the ninth century.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Topography; his sacred cult; eulogies; the age in which he lived; what Life is given by us.

Fantinus, monk and confessor, at Thessalonica in Macedonia (St.)

BY J. P.

Thessalonica, once a most famous city of Macedonia and very well known among geographers, is thus described by Francesco Orlendi of the Order of Preachers, part 1 of the Sacred and Profane World, book 3, chapter 2, page 189: Thessalonica, which is described, Thessalonica was the metropolis of Macedonia, nay, of all Illyricum, at least the Eastern; a city once most famous, situated on the Thermaic gulf, not far from the mouth of the river Echedorus, which, Stephanus being witness, is said to have been first founded by Cassander and named Halia, or, as others will have it, Halis. But it received the name of Thessalonica from Philip the son of Amyntas, when he had routed the Thessalians in its country with vast slaughter. The dignity of that city was greatly enlarged when, being made the seat of the praetorian prefect, it drew to itself the business of all Illyricum. For Theodoret in book 5 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 17, of Valois's edition, records this of it: Thessalonica is a large city, and abounding in a multitude of inhabitants, situated indeed in the province of Macedonia, but which is the head of Thessaly and Achaia and of very many other provinces which are under the administration of the praetorian prefect of Illyricum.

[2] Orlendi subjoins: Alexander, metropolitan of Thessalonica, was present at the Council of Nicaea; Aetius at that of Sardica; Acholius at the first of Constantinople. And in the Council of Chalcedon the bishop of Thessalonica sat first after the patriarchs and subscribed. where St. Fantinus met his day: Of the prelate's authority the same author treats on page 553; of the privileges on pages 554 and 555; of the subject provinces on page 556; of the falling away of the episcopal dignity — Macedonia alone, namely, being left, in which the prelate of Thessalonica should act as metropolitan — on page 559. Besides this modern writer the reader may go to earlier authors, namely the New Topography on the Roman Martyrology published by Ferrarius, Baudrand, and Cellarius in the Notice of the Ancient World, book 2, chapter 13, pages 669 and 670. This praised city St. Fantinus, having traveled through various regions of Europe, adorned by his most holy death and by the miracles wrought after it.

[3] Concerning his public cult take this. The Menologium of the Greeks rendered into Latin by Sirleto, his cult among the Greeks and Latins: and published by Canisius, thus records him: On the same day (the XXX of August) the birthday of holy Fantinus, worker of miracles. The Great Menaea of the Greeks in print agree: Of the holy Wonder-worker Fantinus. They append three Greek verses, whose Latin sense I shall subjoin.

Καὶ γὴν ὑπελθὼν θαυματουργὸς Φαντῖνος Ἄνωθεν ἡμῖν μάννα θαυμάτων βρύει. Φαντῖνος βιότου ἀνεχάζετο ἐν τριακοστῆ.

O worker of miracles, though hidden in the ground, Fantinus, from on high thou rainest down a wondrous manna. The thirtieth removed Fantinus from our eyes.

In a Greek manuscript codex of the Ambrosian library of Milan, on the XIV day of November this is noted: Τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Φαντίνου τοῦ νέου. That is: Of our father Fantinus the younger. But the Saint's posthumous glory was raised to a far greater honor after his cult, propagated among the Greeks, passed to the Latins, the Roman Martyrology announcing him thus: At Thessalonica, of St. Fantinus the confessor, who, having suffered much from the Saracens, and having been driven out of the monastery in which he had lived in wondrous abstinence, when he had led very many to the way of salvation, at length rested in a good old age.

[4] Where the holy Confessor is praised with a short eulogy, he has a longer one among the Greeks in the said Menaea, a eulogy of him from the Greeks: which our Fr. Matthäus Rader thus translated from the Greek: Phantinus, born in Calabria of George and Bryena, consecrated to God from his cradle, was committed to a monastery, in which he exercised himself in every virtue. A noble worker of the commandments, he was deemed worthy also of divine revelations from God. He abstained from all food for twenty days; nakedness he endured for four years []; and when the Saracens had invaded the region, he struggled with countless hardships.*

[5] Thus, sixty years having passed, with his disciples Vitalis and Nicephorus he crossed into the Peloponnese, his eulogy: and entering Corinth and staying there long enough, was a means of salvation to many. Then setting out for Athens, and having adored God in the house of the Mother of God, he withdrew to Larissa: where he kept watch a very long while at the sepulcher of St. Achilleus the martyr. Thence he went to Thessalonica, and staying by the relics of the holy martyr Demetrius, for a whole eight years he kept his accustomed rule of abstinence, and departed this life in a due old age. Similar things are recorded of him in Sirleto's Menologium. To our Greek manuscript transcript, which agrees with the eulogy already produced from the Menaea, this is prefixed in Latin: A summary of the life of St. Fantinus, which is wont to be recited in choir by the Basilian fathers. In Ughelli, volume 9 of the Italia Sacra, column 237 of the earlier edition, Fantinus is placed among the confessors of the Order of St. Basil; but we are not certain whether he is today's Saint or another of the same name, who has been treated on the XXIV day of July from page 547, and whom we showed on page 549 to be different from today's. And for the distinguishing of the two I believe today's is marked in the Greek Calendars already alleged with the distinguishing note τοῦ νέου, that is, the younger.

[6] the time of his life: To one asking when he lived, I answer that I have found nothing hitherto from which I may determine this exactly. In Baronius under the year 827, number 25, concerning the Saracens, of whom mention has just been made from the printed Menaea, this is said: The Agarenes … occupied Calabria and very many parts of Italy, laying all waste with inroads and ravagings. Of Calabria and Apulia infested by the Saracens we have treated among us in the account of St. John Theristes, a monk of the Order of St. Basil, on the XXIV day of February, page 480; and there we indicated that Sicily was occupied by the African Saracens about the year 828; and that thereafter Calabria and Apulia with the neighboring domains lay open to the plundering of the Saracens; but that after about two hundred years the Greeks and Saracens were gradually driven thence by the Normans when they had gained power; and that this is chiefly attributed to William the son of Tancred, upon whom was bestowed the surname Iron Arm. Castellanus, who is wont to append notes of time to the announcements of the Roman Martyrology rendered by him into Latin, appends none to today's St. Fantinus, who perhaps belongs to the ninth century. See below the Annotations, letter k.

[7] The Life which is here given. It may be suspected that a fuller Life of the Saint with miracles was written at Thessalonica, where he is related to have died, or elsewhere, which seems to be urged from the very distinct knowledge of places and persons, as is plain from the Menaea published in print, and will presently be seen from the following Life of his. And we shall give it in Latin from the Greek manuscript Menaea of the Ambrosian library of Milan. And among those things which we preserve transcribed thence, under the month of November Papebroch prefixed this: From the preceding, and likewise from Codex marked f. O 148. And then at the place of that same transcript which is about St. Fantinus, where he is set on the XIV day of November, he adds: See the supplement in Sirmond. It is found among those Greek collectanea of ours to which this title is prefixed: Supplement to the printed Menaea of the Greeks, from an ancient manuscript parchment Synaxarium of Fr. Sirmond, or of the Clermont college of the Society of Jesus at Paris, on the XIV day of November. What we shall supply thence about St. Fantinus we shall enclose in brackets [ ]. Here now for you is his Life, which we shall illustrate with various observations.

Annotations

. Sirleto's Menologium, fourteen years*.

LIFE

From a Greek manuscript codex of the Ambrosian library of Milan, which has been collated with another copy, J. P. being the translator.

Fantinus, monk and confessor, at Thessalonica in Macedonia (St.)

ΟὟτος εἷλκε τὸ γένος ἐκ χώρας τῶν Καλαβρῶν, Γεοργίου καὶ Βριαίνης γέννημα. Ἐξ αὐτῶν δὲ σπαργάνων Θεῷ ἀφιερώθη καὶ ὄγδοον ἄγων χρόνον μοναστηρίῳ ἐκδίδοται, καὶ τὴν τρίχα καρεὶς πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν προθύμως διήρχετο καὶ γενόμενος ἐργάτης τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐντολῶν, θείων καὶ μεγάλων καὶ ἀγγέλοις ἁμιλληθεὶς ἀποκαλύψεων καταξιοῦται [ἐπὶ εἰκοσὶ ὅλας ἡμέρας μετέωρος γενόμενος τὸν νοῦν, καὶ μηδενὸς αἰσθανόμενος τῶν ἀνθρώπων.] Ἐρημίαις γὰρ καὶ ὄρεσι ἐμφιλοχωρῶν ἐπὶ ὅλας εἰκοσὶ ἡμέρας πολλάκις νήστης διεκαρτέρησε, καὶ μυρίας περιστάσεις ἐπάλαισεν ἐν ταῖς τῶν σαρκικῶν ἐφοδίαις.

[2] Ἐν τούτοις ἑξήκοντα χρόνους διαρκέσας, Βιτάλιον καὶ Νικηφόρον τοὺς αὐτοῦ φοιτητὰς παραλαβὼν τῇ Πελοπονήσῳ προσεπιβαίνει, καὶ τῇ Κορίνθῴ χρόνον συχνὸν ἐπιφοιτῶν πολλοῖς τῶν ἐκεῖσε γενομένων πρόξενος αὐτοῖς σωτηρίας κατέστη. Ἔπειτα ταῖς Ἀθήναις, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον τέμενον τῆς Θεοτόκου προσκυνήσας, ἐν τῇ Λαρίσσῃ γίνεται. Ἰκανῷ δὲ χρόνῳ τῷ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἀχιλίου ἱερομάρτυρος προσεδρύσας τάφῳ τὸν συνήθη τῆς διδασκαλίας σπόρον ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχαῖς κατασπείρας ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ ἔρχεται, καὶ κατατρυφήσας τῶν τοῦ μεγαλομάρτυρος Δημητρίου θαυμάτων [καὶ τὴν πολυάνθρωπον ἐκείνην πόλιν τῆς αὐτοῦ πολιτείαις καὶ ἀρετῆς μέτοχον ἀναδείξαι [*]. Οὗτος

ὁ πολὺς ἐν ἀρεταῖς, καὶ μέγιστος ἐν θαυματουργίαις Φαντῖνος ὀκτὼ διαρκέσας ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ χρόνους, καὶ πανταχοῦ γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης τὰς αὐγὰς τοῦ ἐνθέου αὐτοῦ βίου μέχρι καὶ τῆς Βασιλευούσης ἀκοντίσας] ἐν γήρᾳ καλῷ καὶ πλήρης ἡμερῶν τὸν βίον κατέλυσεν.

His country, his monastic profession, his virtues, and his various This man drew his descent from the region of the Calabrians, the son of George and Bryena. From his very swaddling-clothes he was consecrated to God, and while he was in his eighth year he is handed over to a monastery; and, his hair being shorn, he exercised himself eagerly in every virtue. And while he fulfilled the commandments of God, he was deemed worthy of divine and great revelations of hidden things being not inferior to the angels, [for twenty whole days being caught up in mind to heaven, and perceiving none of men]. For dwelling gladly in solitudes and on mountains, he often passed twenty whole days fasting ^a, and struggled with countless afflictions in the inroads of the Saracens ^b.

[2] pilgrimages: his death. After he had persevered in these things for sixty years, taking with him his disciples Vitalis and Nicephorus, he went to the Peloponnese ^c, and, having dwelt a long time at Corinth ^d, procured salvation for many of those who were there; then he went to Athens ^e, and, having venerated the temple of the Mother of God, came to Larissa ^f. And when he had sat for a sufficient time at the sepulcher of St. Achilleus the hieromartyr ^g, scattering the accustomed seed of teaching in the souls of men, he seeks Thessalonica, and having joyfully enjoyed the miracles of the great martyr Demetrius ^h, [and made that populous city a partaker of his manner of life and virtue. This Fantinus, rich in virtues and great in miracles, having completed eight years at Thessalonica, and having hurled in every direction, by land and sea, the splendors of his divine life as far as Constantinople ⁱ], in a good old age and full of days set an end to his life ^k.

ANNOTATIONS.

*. Perhaps ἀναδειξας.

Notes

a. The supplement indicated above adds this: Ἄτροφος ἐπὶ πολὺ καὶ ἄποτος καὶ γυμνὸς ἐπὶ τεσσάροις χρόνοις διετέλεσεν. Ἐν ὅσαις δὲ ἐφόδοις αἰχμαλοσίας .. τοῦ άλιτηρίου τῶν Ἄφρων ἔθνους ἐπέπεσεν, οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν. Ἑξήκοντα χρόνοις ὑπὸ τοῖς αὐτῶν κακοῖς πιεζόμενος συνήλγει τοῖς κινδινεύουσι. Μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ ἀπάρας τοῖς ἐνεγκαμένοις, καὶ συμπαραλαβὼν Βιτάλιον … Which I thus render: *Without food for a long time and without drink, and naked, he passed four years. But into how great miseries of captivity … of the destructive nation of the Africans he fell, there is none who records. For sixty years, oppressed by their evils, he grieved with those in peril. And after this he left his native land, and took with him Vitalis…*

b. Σαρκικῶν, which is here in the Greek text, I judge to be corrupt, and that we must read Σαρακηνῶν, *of the Saracens*, with Sirleto's Menologium and the Greek Menaea. The same is plain from the text of the supplement just recited.

c. The Peloponnese is a province of Greece, which is also called the Morea, well enough known otherwise.

d. *Corinth is the metropolis of Achaia, situated nearly in the middle of the Peloponnesian Isthmus: having on the East the Saronic and on the West the Crisaean gulf, which is also called the Corinthian; famous for its two harbors,* etc. This and more in Orlendi, part 1, book 3, chapter 2, page 194, of the Work designated before.

e. It is the metropolitan city of Attica, once most famous in arms and letters, which according to Baudrand's measurement is scarcely a thousand paces distant from the shore of the Saronic gulf.

f. Larissa, metropolis of Thessaly, the native country of Achilles, from which he was called the Larissaean. That it is situated on the border of Macedonia on the river Peneus, and is 28 miles distant from the Thermaic gulf toward the West, Baudrand observes.

g. That this holy martyr was famous at Larissa is here indicated; but what kind of person he is, and to what he belongs, I am not ready to say.

h. St. Demetrius the martyr is announced in the Roman Martyrology under the emperor Maximian on the 8th day of October; where in the notes Baronius treats of the frequent concourse of Christians to Thessalonica to his sepulcher, a healing ointment continually gushing from it.

i. Βασιλευούσης, as the Greek text has it, signifies the reigning or imperial (city), that is, Constantinople, formerly the seat of the emperors.

k. At eight years old he was consecrated to God, as is said above; then it is narrated that through the Saracens' captivity he endured many hardships for sixty years; there follow his various journeys, upon which how much time he spent is not added. Add to these the eight years passed at Thessalonica, and perhaps you may arrive at an age of more than eighty years, and at the end of the ninth century, in which he may have died, according to what was premised above in our Commentary.