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 FABIOLA

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FABRI

bishop and martyr." The decretals ascribed to him in Pseudo-Isidore are apocryphal.

Duchesne (ed.). Liber Ponlificalis (Paris, 18861 I, 148^9; Acta SS. Jan. II, 2.52-56; Barmby, in Dit-l. of Christian Biogr. s. v.; TiLLEMONT, Mimoires, III, 362-66, 719-20; Jaffe, Reg. RR. Pont. I, 15-17; II, 690.

P. Gabriel Meieb.

Fabiola, S.4.1NT, a Roman matron of rank, d. 27 December, 399 or 400. She was one of the company of noble Roman women who, under the influence of St. Jerome, gave up all earthly pleasures and devoted themselves to the practice of Christian asceticism and to charitable work At the time of St. Jerome's stay at Rome (.382-84), Fabiola was not one of the ascetic circle which gathered around him. It was not until a later date that, upon the death of her second consort, she took the decisive step of entering upon a life of renunciation and labour for others. Fabiola belonged to the patrician Roman family of the Fabia. She had been married to a man who led so vicious a life that to live with him was impossible. She obtained a divorce from him according to Roman law, and, contrary to the ordinances of the Church, she entered upon a sec- ond union before the death of her first husband. On the day before Easter, following the death of her sec- ond consort, she appeared before the gates of the Lat- eran basilica, dressed in penitential garb, and did pen- ance in public for her sin, an act which made a great impression upon the Christian population of Rome. The pope received her formally again into full com- munion with the Church.

Fabiola now renounced all that the world had to offer her, and devoted her immense wealth to the needs of the poor and the sick. She erected a fine hospital at Rome, and waited on the inmates herself, not even shunning those afflicted with repulsive wounds and sores. Besides this she gave large sums to the churches and religious communities at Rome, and at other places in Italy. All her interests were centred on the needs of the Church and the care of the poor and suffering. In 395, she went to Bethle- hem, where she lived in the hospice of the convent di- rected by Paula and applied herself, under the direc- tion of St. Jerome, with the greatest zeal to the study and contemplation of the Scriptures, and to ascetic exercises. An incursion of the Huns into the eastern provinces of the empire, and the quarrel which broke out between Jerome and Bishop John of Jerusalem respecting the teachings of Origen, made residence in Bethlehem unpleasant for her, and she returned to Rome. She remained, however, in correspondence with St. Jerome, who at her request wrote a treatise on the priesthood of Aaron and the priestly dress. At Rome, Fabiola united with the former senator Pammachius in carrying out a great charitable under- taking; together they erected at Porto a large hospice for pilgrims coming to Rome. Fabiola also continued her usual personal labours in aid of the poor and sick until her death. Her funeral was a wonderful mani- festation of the gratitude and veneration with which she was regarded by the Roman populace. St. Jer- ome wrote a eulogistic memoir of Fabiola in a letter to her relative Oceanus.

St. Jerome, Ep. Ixxvii, cf. Epp. Iv. Ixiv, Ixxviii. in P. L. XXII; Idem, Contra Rufmum, III. 14; Fhemantle in Diet, of Christ. Bioij., s. v. Fabiola; Gritzmacher, Hieronymus (Ber- lin, 1906), II, 183 sqq.; Thierry, Si, Jer6me. la socUte chTftienne ix Rome et I'emigratxon romaine en Terre Sainte (Paris, 1876), II. J. P. KiRSCH.

Fabre, Joseph, second Superior General of the Ob- lates of Mary Immaculate, b. 14 November, 1824, at Cuges, Bouches-du-Rhone, France; d. at Royaumont near Paris, 2G October, 1892. He first studied at the Lyc^e of Marseilles, then entered the Grand Si^minaire of the same city, and made his novitiate in the Con- gregation of the 01)lates, pronouncing his final vows 17 February, 1845. After teaching philosophy for

some time, he was ordained priest, 29 May, 1847. He was Director of the Grand Seminaire of Marseilles when, in 1850, a general chapter elected him procura- tor of the whole Institute. The Bishop of Marseilles, who was also the superior and founder of the Oblates, made him his trusted confidant; and when that prel- ate died Father Fabre was imanimously chosen to succeed him (5 Dec, 1801) as Superior Cieneral of his congregation, in which capacity he from time to time addressed to the members of his congregation, ency- clical letters which have remained models of spiritual direction. He instituted collective retreats for the superiors, and others for the simple religious, and in- sisted on the observance of charity and humility, which Bishop De Mazenod had made the cardinal vir- tues of his Institute.

He introduced his missionaries into Italy, Spain, and Holland ; established new houses in France, Great Britain, and Canada, and, in 1883, canonically erected into a separate province the houses already existing in the United States. Their activities in the missions of Ceylon, South Africa, and the extreme North, as well as the far West, of America, were no less remarkable during his tenure of office.

At the time of his death, when he had been superior for thirty-one years, the roll of members had more than doubled in numbers, and the Oblates counted in their ranks ten bishops who were at the head of as many vicariates Apostolic. If Bishop De Mazenod had founded and consolidated the congregation, the last touches to the good work were given by his immedi- ate successor. In addition to being their superior general. Father Fabre was the Director-Cieneral of the Association of the Holy Family, a religious institute composed of seven congregations of nuns founded at Bordeaux in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Noticeji n^crologiqiies des Oblats de Marie ImniacuUe (Bar-le- Duc, 1899); Benoit, Viede Mgr. Tache (Montreal, 1904).

A. G. MORICE.

Fabri (LEFiivRE), Honore, Jesuit, theologian, b. about 1607 in the Department of Ain, France; d. at Rome, 8 March, 1688. He entered the Society of Jesus at Avignon, in 1626, and distinguished himself by a life of continuous mental work. He excelled especially in mathematics and physics, but he was also a formidable controversialist. For eight years he taught philosophy and for six years mathematics in the Jesuit college at Lyons, attracting many pupils by the fame of his learning. Called to Rome, he be- came the theologian of the court of the papal peniten- tiary in the Vatican Basilica, a position he held for thirty years. His duties did not prevent him from writing a number of learned works on various subjects in keeping with the needs of his time. Sommervogel mentions thirty-one titles of published works in con- nexion with Fabri's name; besides, there are fourteen of his productions in MS., now kept in the Library of Lyons.

The following are the more important of his publi- cations: "Pithanophilus, seu dialogus vel opusculum de opinione probabili," etc. (Rome, 1659). This work was attacked by Stephanus Gradius, Prefect of the Vatican Library, in his " Disputatio de opinione probabili" (Rome, 1678; Mechlin, 1679). "Honor- ati Fabri, Societatis Jesu, apologeticus doctrine mo- ralis ejusdem Societatis" (Lyons, 1670; Cologne, 1672). This treats, in eleven dialogues, of probabil- ism, explaining its true nature, and refuting the charges of its opponents. The Cologne edition was considerably enlarged but did not meet with ecclesias- tical approbation ; it was placed on the Index of for- bidden books soon after its appearance. "Una fides unius Ecclesia- Homanie contra indifferentes hujus sa'culi tribus lil)ris facili mcthodo asserta" (Dillingen, 10,57). "Sunimula thcologica in qui gua;stiones omnes alicujus momenti, quiE a Scholasticis agitari