Saint Fantinus
Painting of Saint Fantinus (on the right). Sanctuary of San Nicodemo, Mammola.
Bornc. 927
Calabria
Died1000
Greece
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church,
Eastern Orthodox Church
FeastAugust 30

Fantinus (Italian: Fantino) (c. 927–1000) was an Italian saint. He is sometimes called Fantinus of Calabria[1] or Fantinus the Younger (Fantino il Giovane) to distinguish him from Fantinus the Wonderworker (or the Elder), an earlier Calabrian saint.[2][3]

Born in Calabria in a locality described as being the "closest to Sicily",[2] Fantinus was introduced as a child to Saint Elias the Cave-Dweller.[4] Fantinus' parents were named George and Vriena.[2] Fantinus' spiritual education was entrusted to Elias, and Fantinus became a monk at the age of thirteen and worked as a cook and afterwards as a porter. At the age of thirty-three, he became a hermit in the region of Mount Mercurion in the north of Calabria. There, many monasteries and hermitages had been established under the Basilian rule. Fantinus lived a life of extreme asceticism, eating only raw vegetables, and occupying his time copying manuscripts.[4] He also experienced a vision of heaven and hell.[4]

Fantinus lived both as a hermit and as a monk and abbot. He subsequently convinced his aged parents, as well as his two brothers, Luke and Cosmas, and sister Caterina, to enter the monastic life. When he became a hermit, he left his brother Lucas in charge of the monastery for men he had founded. Though a hermit, he often returned from the wild in order to serve as a guide and spiritual teacher to disciples, such as Nilus the Younger and Nicodemus of Mammola.[2]

Greece

The monastery he founded was destroyed by Muslim raiders during Fantinus' lifetime.[1] But Fantinus was told by an angel to preach in Greece.[4] He left Calabria with two disciples, Vitalis and Nicephorus. During the voyage, the ship ran out of drinking water. Fantinus is said to have made the sign of the cross over a container filled with seawater and miraculously converted it into drinkable water.[2] Fantinus visited Corinth, Athens, and Larissa, where he lived near the sepulcher of Saint Achillius of Larissa. He lived for four months in a monastery dedicated to Saint Menas near Thessalonica, and then lived outside of the city walls of that city. In Thessalonica itself, he cured the sick and caused a corrupt judge to repent of his sins.[2] He was also given credit for preventing a Bulgarian capture of the city.[4]

Fantinus died in Greece.[1]

The eleventh-century Greek life of Fantinus has been edited and translated into Italian by Enrica Follieri.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Saint of the Day, August 30: Fantinus of Calabria SaintPatrickDC.org. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 San Fantino il Giovane Retrieved 2012-03-18. (in Italian)
  3. ↑ San Fantino il Vecchio (o il Taumaturgo) Retrieved 2012-03-18. (in Italian)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Orthodox Europe :: Italy
  5. ↑ Follieri, Enrica (1993). La vita di San Fantino il Giovane : introduzione, testo greco, traduzione commentario e indici. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes. ISBN 2873650052.
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