Saint Philastrius of Brescia

Ordained a priest and established as a dispenser of the divine word, he traveled through almost all the provinces of the empire, going even through villages and country houses to preach the truth and to combat there not only the Jews and the pagans, but also all heresies, especially that of the Arians, whose fury was then becoming formidable throughout the Church. He displayed in this function a faith so fervent that he even endured the whip and bore imprinted on his body the marks of Jesus Christ.

He was in Milan a faithful guardian of the flock of Jesus Christ before Saint Ambrose ha d been its bis saint Ambroise Father of the Church cited for a maxim on strength. hop, and he opposed with vigor Auxentius, an Arian, who had intruded himself into the church of Milan and was taking the title of bishop among those of the sect. Saint Philastrius also remained for a considerable time in R Rome Birthplace of Maximian. ome, where he converted a great number of people to the faith through the discourses he gave both in public and in private.

After having traveled through so many places to save souls, he stopped in Bresci Brescia City of origin of Blessed Sebastian Maggi. a, of which he was the seventh bishop. This city, when he took it under his care, was as if completely wild and in ignorance of spiritual science; but it wished to be cultivated and instructed in the ways of salvation. The holy bishop therefore began to work there; he uprooted various errors and cultivated this land with such effort and assiduity that it became fertile in good works.

He knew, says Saint Gau dentius, how t saint Gaudence Successor of Philastrius to the bishopric of Brescia. o combine an admirable gentleness with the ardent fervor with which his soul was inflamed for the glory of God. His profound humility gave luster to the sublimity of his knowledge. Perfectly instructed in the things of heaven, he was almost entirely ignorant of those of the earth. Insensible to the glory that comes from men, he applied himself solely to rendering to God the honor that is due to Him. Detached from his own interests, he sought only those of Jesus Christ, troubling himself neither with the good graces nor the favor of the world. Always applied to the service of God and to winning men for Him, full of contempt for all that the world esteems as rare and precious, he took pleasure, through a charitable ambition, in enriching the poor merchants who trade in the most common things by paying them with prodigality, counting it as little to give alms only to those who make a profession of begging. He stifled every movement of anger at its birth: he was always ready to forgive injuries. He excelled in patience and won hearts through his gentleness. Embarrassed when he had to punish, he did not deliberate at all when it was a question of forgiving. Communicating with a surprising kindness to all sorts of people of every age, every sex, and every condition, he distinguished with a particular friendship only the most vile and seemingly most despicable persons. His clothes were very common, but clean. He pleased, but without artifice. He was negligent, but without affectation; in short, in an exterior that was in no way studied, he revealed all the interior purity of his soul.

In the year 381, Saint Philastrius was present at the Council of Aquileia with several bishops of the vicariate of Italy, and concurred with them in the condemnation of Palladius and Secundianus, both Arian bishops, and of Attalus, a priest of the same party, who had also bee n present at t Saint Augustin Father of the Church and spiritual master of Possidius. hat same council.

Saint Augustine, being in Milan in 384, saw Saint Philastrius there. This is the last time he is mentioned in history, and perhaps he did not live long thereafter: at the very least, it is certain that he died before the year 397, since Saint Ambrose, who died that year, had established Saint Gaudentius as bishop of Brescia in the place of Saint Philastrius. Among the disciples of this holy bishop, we know of two who became remarkable in the Church for their virtue: Saint Gaudentius, w ho was h Bénevole Officer of Valentinian and disciple of Philastrius. is successor, and Benevolus, an officer of Valentinian, who, even before being baptized, preferred to lose his office rather than dictate against the Catholic Church a resc ript gi Justine Arian empress and primary opponent of Ambrose. ven by order of the Empress Justina. Saint Gaudentius, who recounts this historical detail, says that Benevolus showed, by this constancy in defending the faith, that he had been instructed by the admirable doctrine of Philastrius, that man who made himself in all things an imitator of the Apostles. This Saint solemnized every year with his people the day on which Saint Philastrius, his master, had left the earth to go and enjoy God, and he did not fail on that day to praise his virtues. Of all his discourses, only one remains to us, which he delivered in the fourteenth year of his episcopate. It is there that he calls the voice of Saint Philastrius a most learned voice which, making itself heard on all sides in the church of Brescia, had founded it by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the faith of the adorable Trinity, had established it in a true hope, had strengthened it in a perfect charity, had raised it to the virtues of Christianity, and had left it in the peace of Jesus Christ.

## WRITINGS OF SAINT PHILASTRIUS.

We have from Saint Philastrius a Treatise on Heresie Traité des Hérésies Principal work by Philastrius cataloging 156 heresies. s, in which he counts twenty-eight that appeared in Judaism before Jesus Christ, and one hundred and twenty-eight since his birth.

The principal heresies that appeared before the coming of Jesus Christ, according to Saint Philastrius, are: that of the Ophites, who worshipped the serpent as having given us the first knowledge of good and evil; that of the Cainites, that is to say, those who praised Cain for having killed his brother Abel; of the Sethians or worshippers of Seth, son of Adam; of Dositheus, who taught that one must live according to the flesh in the law of the Lord, and that this flesh will not rise again; that of the Sadducees, who held the same principles as Dositheus regarding the flesh and who lived more in accordance with the maxims of Epicurus than with those of the law of God; that of the Pharisees,

who regarded Jesus Christ only as a just man; of the Samaritans, who received only four books of the law of Moses, and believed neither in the future judgment nor in the resurrection; of the Nazarenes, who made justice consist in carnal observance and in letting their hair grow; of the Essenes, who lived in retreat and mortification, but who did not believe that the Son of God was announced in the Prophets, and did not recognize him as God; that of the Heliognostics, who worshipped the sun as knowing all that is in God, and as the author of light and of all the food that men need; of the worshippers of frogs, rats, and flies; of the Troglodytes, a species of idolaters among the Jews, who dwelt in caves; of the Fortunatians or those who worshipped the fortune of heaven, which they called queen, and to whom they offered sacrifices; there was also the heresy of the Jews; of the Bahaites, who sacrificed to the idol of Bahai, king of the Tyrians; that of the Astarites, who sacrificed to idols of men and women; of the Molochites, who offered sacrifices to Moloch and held Rembram in veneration; of the Taphites, so called because they sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons in the valley of Taphel; of the Puteanites, who held wells in veneration and placed in the water they drew from them the hope of their salvation, etc.

The Treatise on Heresies was printed several times separately, in Basel, in 1528, in-8°, and 1539, in-5°; in Helmstedt, in 1611 and 1621, in-4°. A supplement to the Treatise on Heresies of Saint Philastrius, by an unknown author, was added in these last three editions. There are, besides this, in the Basel edition of 1539, one hundred and fourteen sentences of the Fathers, concerning the duties of the true pastors of the Church, and a part of the letter of Nicephorus Cartophilax to the monk Theodosius, concerning the power of the keys. The Treatise of Saint Philastrius is also found in all the Libraries of the Fathers, printed in Paris, Cologne, and Lyon. And since then, it has been reprinted in Hamburg, in 1721, under the care of the learned Fabricius, who corrected the text and enriched it with notes.

Paul Galéard provided in 1738, in Brescia, a new edition revised from the manuscripts. Galland included it in his Library and completed it. Cailleu reproduced it in volume XLVII of his Collection, with some variants, but without the notes. The same complete edition is found in the Patrologia Latina, volume XII, with a better order.

Taken from Dom Crililier, Histoire des auteurs sacrés et ecclésiastiques. — Cf. Godascard, Baillet.