Faritius (also known as Faricius) (died 1117) was an Italian Benedictine Abbot of Abingdon and physician.

Life

Faricius was born in

Arezzo Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation o ...

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

, a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

monk who became known as a skilful physician and man of letters. He was in England in 1078, when he witnessed the translation of the relics of

St. Aldhelm Aldhelm ( ang, Ealdhelm, la, Aldhelmus Malmesberiensis) (c. 63925 May 709), Abbot of Malmesbury, Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey, Bishop of Sherborne (ancient), Bishop of Sherborne, and a writer and scholar of Latin poetry, was born before the middl ...

, and was cellarer of

Malmesbury Abbey Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, is a religious house dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It was one of the few English houses with a continuous history from the 7th century through to the dissolution of the monasteri ...

when, in 1100, he was elected abbot of Abingdon. He owed his election to a vision, reported to the king Henry I; Faricius was either already, or was soon afterwards, the king's physician. He was consecrated on 1 November by

Robert Bloet Robert Bloet (sometimes Robert Bloett;Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 132 died 1123) was Bishop of Lincoln 1093–1123 and Chancellor of England. Born into a noble Norman family, he became a royal clerk under King William I. Under William I's ...

, bishop of Lincoln. The restoration of the conventual buildings was his first care, and he also rebuilt a large part of the church, probably the whole of the eastern end, the transepts, and the central tower, placing his new building to the south of St. Æthelwold's church He enriched the abbey by obtaining grants of land and gifts, caused books of divinity and medicine to be copied for the library, was liberal to the monks, and raised their number from twenty-eight to eighty. The payments he received for his work as a physician enabled him to do all this. When, after the

see of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

had remained vacant for five years, Henry held a council at Windsor on 26 April 1114 in order to fix on a successor to Anselm, he was anxious to procure the election of Faricius. The suffragan bishops, however, opposed the scheme, for they were afraid that Faricius as an Italian and a strict churchman would involve the church in fresh disputes. This feeling was not expressed openly, but the Bishops of Lincoln and Salisbury alleged that it would be unseemly that a physician who attended women should be made archbishop. The king gave up the point, and Ralph d'Escures was elected.

Works

He wrote a ‘Life of St. Aldhelm,’ which is criticised by

William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a ...

in his ‘Life’ of the saint. His work is identified as the anonymous ‘Life’ in the contemporary Cotton MS. Faustina, B. iv., which is printed in the

Bollandists The Bollandist Society ( la, Societas Bollandistarum french: Société des Bollandistes) are an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century ...

' ''

Acta Sanctorum ''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. The project w ...

'' May vi. 84, and by John Allen Giles in his edition of Aldhelm's works. He is also said to have written letters and a work proving that infants dying without baptism cannot be saved, and was sent a letter on this subject by

Theobald of Étampes Theobald of Étampes ( la, Theobaldus Stampensis; french: Thibaud or Thibault d'Étampes; born before 1080, died after 1120) was a medieval schoolmaster and theologian hostile to priestly celibacy. He is the first scholar known to have lectured a ...

References

*Kelly, S. E. 2000. Charters of Abingdon, part 1. ''Anglo-Saxon Charters'' 7. * ;Attribution 1117 deaths Abbots of Abingdon 12th-century English medical doctors 11th-century Italian physicians People from Arezzo Year of birth unknown 12th-century Italian writers 12th-century Latin writers {{Christianity-bio-stub