ON ST. FAUSTUS, ABBOT,
NEAR SYRACUSE IN SICILY.
About the year DCVII.
COLLECTION.
Faustus, abbot near Syracuse in Sicily (S.)
BY C. S.
At Syracuse, that ancient and noble city of Sicily, on this day is celebrated the memory of St. Faustus, abbot of the monastery of St. Lucy, distant not far from the aforesaid city. His memory in the sacred calendars. Among the martyrologists, to few of whom he is known, Philip Ferrarius in the general Catalogue of the Saints, at the VIII Ides of September announces him thus: At Syracuse, of St. Faustus, abbot of the monastery of saint Lucy: in the Annotations he cites the archives of the church of Syracuse and the Sicilian Martyrology. To the same day he is referred by Ménard in the Benedictine Martyrology: At Syracuse, of saint Faustus, abbot: and by Gabriel Bucelin in the Menology of the same Order. The same day is assigned as sacred to him by Francesco Carrera in the Pantheon Siculum, and by Rocco Pirro in the Sicilia Sacra, book 3, page 139, citing the Kalendar of Syracuse, and Ottavio Gaetani, who in the plan of his Work on the Lives of the Sicilian Saints preceded them. And he seems either at once, or at least not long after his death, to have obtained cult among the people of Syracuse, since a certain anonymous Sicilian, a contemporary writer of the Life of St. Zosimus bishop of Syracuse, who was a disciple of our Saint, already then celebrated him with the title of Saint, as we shall presently show.
[2] Of the Saint's Acts we have nothing, except that he was abbot of the monastery of St. Lucy virgin and martyr, He was abbot of the monastery of St. Lucy: he had St. Zosimus as his disciple. near Syracuse, and that he piously and holily imbued with monastic discipline St. Zosimus, who afterward succeeded him in the abbacy, and finally was raised to the see of Syracuse. This we have from the said Life of St. Zosimus, which our Predecessors reprinted in volume III of March from page 839 from Ottavio Gaetani. In this, at number 6, the biographer writes thus: For saint Zosimus, advancing among the Saints both in age and in virtues, is appointed guardian of the precious coffin of saint Lucy the virgin by St. Faustus, abbot of that monastery, whose life and character as he imitated, so he was held worthy to succeed him. Almost the same things are said in the Responsories of the 1st Nocturn in the proper Office of the same St. Zosimus, once wont to be recited in the church of Syracuse. Take the words:
Saint Faustus, father of the house, and his right hand as helper, To one emulating holy deeds and the bodies of the Saints Committed the precious remains of the sacred martyr.
Then in the Responsory of the 2nd Nocturn St. Zosimus is said to have succeeded our holy Abbot:
When saint Faustus enters upon the way of all flesh, etc.
[3] But of what Order the abbey of St. Lucy, and accordingly our Saint, was, is not certainly clear: It is uncertain whether he was of the Basilian or the Benedictine yet the opinion seems to stand for the Benedictine. In this opinion, so far as appears, was Mabillon in volume 1 of the Annals at the year 591, where he says: There were then two monasteries at Syracuse: one of St. Lucy, situated outside the walls in that place where the blessed virgin suffered martyrdom: the other of St. Peter at Bajæ, etc. Rocco Pirro in the Sicilia Sacra, book 3, notice 2, page 204, holds it for certain: for he says thus: The most ancient of all, of the Order of St. Benedict, under the title of St. Lucy of Syracuse, is situated in that place where the most illustrious virgin bore martyrdom for the faith of Christ. Presently, among the holy men of this place, St. Faustus is in the same place commemorated thus: Faustus in the year DXCV under the emperors Tiberius and Maurice: his feast on the VI day of September. So he: but he does not prove that he was of the Benedictine Order. He adduces indeed a passage from epistle 1 of book 8 of St. Gregory, which in the newest edition is the first of book 10, but it proves nothing less than this. Let us hear St. Gregory's words: Besides, our brother Trajan (bishop of Malta, not of Milevum, as Pirro has it) asked of us above that from his monastery, which is situated in the city of Syracuse, four or five monks should be given him. Who would deduce from this that the monastery of St. Lucy was of the Order of St. Benedict, or that Benedictine monks were asked from it by Trajan? Certainly Pirro ought first to have shown that that Trajan was a Benedictine: although not even so would he have proved anything, since St. Gregory treats of a monastery which was situated not near Syracuse, but in the city of Syracuse, and so he could have been speaking of any other monastery founded within the city.
[4] Order he was. Ménard in book 2 of the Observations on the Martyrology of his Order admits it only as probable that he was a Benedictine; for concerning Ottavio Gaetani he says: Although he doubts whether this saint Faustus was a Basilian or a Benedictine, yet it is probable that he was of the first propagation of the disciples of St. Placidus in Sicily. Gabriel Bucelin speaks similarly with doubt at this day, citing Ottavio and Ménard. He was, he says, in the opinion of some, of the first propagation of the disciples of the most holy Placidus our protomartyr in Sicily, abbot of the monastery of Syracuse, founded in honor of St. Lucy virgin and martyr. But neither does that contemporary biographer of St. Zosimus, whom I mentioned at number 1, shed any light in this part; since indeed he keeps deep silence about the Rule of that ancient monastery; St. Gregory too is silent, although he makes mention of that same monastery once and again in his epistles. Wherefore, since nothing certain occurs on either side, I leave to each its own probability, if it has any.
The said Pirro further notes that this same monastery, after various vicissitudes, in his own time, that is in the year 1617, was given by bishop Giovanni Torres to the Friars Minor Reformed of the Observance.
[5] The Saint's last date. The age in which the Saint lived we manifestly learn from the often-praised Life of St. Zosimus, first his disciple and then his successor in the governance of the monastery. It is not possible to define with certainty the year of his death, because that of Zosimus is uncertain: nevertheless the biographer of the latter allows us not to stray far from the truth. According to him that holy bishop of Syracuse, succeeding St. Faustus in the abbacy, governed it for forty years, which being elapsed, under Theodore the supreme Pontiff he was ordained bishop of Syracuse, in which office he completed thirteen more years: and so he survived his holy Abbot by 53 years. Wherefore, if the year of Zosimus' death were established, the last year of St. Faustus' life would be beyond doubt: but since that is uncertain, this likewise remains uncertain. Ottavio Gaetani in the Lives of the Sicilian Saints, page 226, ties the death of St. Zosimus to the year of Christ 656, but that of St. Faustus, on page 223, to the year 602. But our Henschen in volume III of March, page 838, sets the death of that same holy bishop about the year 660, whether, he says, two or three years are to be taken away or added. The reasons for which he so thinks the studious reader will find at the place cited, number 3. On this opinion our Saint died about the year 607: for if from the year 660 thou subtract those 53 years by which we have shown St. Zosimus to have survived him, there will result the year 607, about which he must have died, yet in such a way that by however many years the death of St. Zosimus may be set later or earlier, by just so many must this man's happy departure from the living be deferred or hastened.