Philastrius (also Philaster or Filaster) Bishop of Brescia, was one of the bishops present at a synod held in Aquileia in 381.

Life

Philastrius was born around 330 and ordained at the age of 30. Hagiographical accounts describe him as leaving his homeland and family inheritance to devote himself fully to religious life, likening his departure to that of

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

. He traveled extensively throughout the Roman world, preaching against pagans and heretics, particularly the

Arians Arianism (, ) is a Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is considered h ...

. In

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, he became a significant supporter of the Catholic faction during the tenure of Ambrose's Arian predecessor, Auxentius.

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

met him in Milan around 383 or shortly thereafter. At

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, he held both private and public

disputation Disputation is a genre of literature involving two contenders who seek to establish a resolution to a problem or establish the superiority of something. An example of the latter is in Sumerian disputation poems. In the scholastic system of e ...

s with heretics and reportedly converted many individuals. His travels ended when he was appointed Bishop of Brescia. He died sometime before 387 and was buried in the ancient cathedral of St Andrew at Brescia. The Catholic Church venerates him as a saint, with his feast day observed on 18 July, as recorded in the latest official edition of the ''

Roman Martyrology The ''Roman Martyrology'' () is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approved appendices to it. It provid ...

''.

Historical evidence

Among the writings of

Gaudentius of Brescia Gaudentius (; died 410) was Bishop of Brescia from 387 until 410, and was a theologian and author of many letters and sermons. He was the successor of Philastrius. Biography Gaudentius had studied under Philastrius, and was a preacher in Italy a ...

was a

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present context ...

purporting to be preached on the fourteenth anniversary of Philastrius's death. Historians such as Louis Ellies du Pin have questioned the genuineness of this sermon. Friedrich Marx thought the sermon a forgery of the eighth or ninth century. The chief objection to its genuineness, rather a weak one, seems to be that it is not found in the manuscripts containing the undoubted sermons of Gaudentius. Marx was answered by Knappe, "Ist die 21 Rede des hl. Gaudentius (Oratio B. Gaudentii de Vita et Obitu B. Filastrii episcopi prædecessoris sui) echt? Zugleich ein Betrag zur Latinität des Gaudentius" (Osnabrück), who endeavoured to prove the genuineness of the sermon in question by linguistic arguments. His

Bollandist The Bollandist Society (; ) is an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century have studied hagiography and the cult of the saints in Christia ...

reviewer thought he has made a strong case (''Anal. Boll.'', XXVIII, 224).

Works

Philastrius composed a catalogue of

heresies Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

(''Diversarum Hereseon Liber'') about 384.Bacchus, Francis Joseph. "St. Philastrius." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911

Richard Adelbert Lipsius Richard Adelbert Lipsius (14 February 1830 in Gera, Thuringia – 19 August 1892 in Jena, Thuringia) was a German Protestant theologian. Biography Richard Adelbert Lipsius was the son of K. H. A. Lipsius (d. 1861), who was rector of the school ...

discovered that in Philastrius's "Catalogue" of heresies, for the

Christian heresies Heresy in Christianity denotes the formal denial or doubt of a core doctrine of the Christian faith as defined by one or more of the Christian churches. The study of heresy requires an understanding of the development of orthodoxy and the ro ...

up to

Noetus Noetus () was a presbyter of the church of Asia Minor about AD 230. He was a native of Smyrna, where (or perhaps in Ephesus) he became a prominent representative of the particular type of Christology now called modalistic monarchianism or patripass ...

, the compiler drew from the same source as

Epiphanius of Salamis Epiphanius of Salamis (; – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the Christianity in the 4th century, 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Churche ...

, i. e. the lost ''Syntagma of Hippolytus''. By the aid, therefore, of these two and the Pseudo-Tertullian ''Adversus Omnes Haereses'' it has been possible in great measure to reconstruct the lost treatise of Hippolytus. Philastrius' comments and spellings do not always accord with those of Epiphanius or Pseudo-Tertullian, for example his description of '' Nazaraei'' does not match well with either the ''Nasaraioi'' or '' Nazoraioi'' which Epiphanius attempts to distinguish.Edwin K. Broadhead Jewish Ways of Following Jesus: Redrawing the Religious Map of 2010 p178 "52 Filaster apparently has another group in mind when he refers to Nazaraei. His description of them elsewhere does not match well with the Nazarenes of Epiphanius. Even if Filaster means the Nazarenes, he may be dependent on Epiphanius"

References

Editions

*The first edition of the "Catalogue" was published at Basle (1528) *

F. Marx F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distribution, a conti ...

, ''Philastrius'' (Vienna, 1898) in the ''Corp. Script. Eccl. Lat.'' * Gabriele Banterle, translator, (1991, Rome) San Filastro di Brescia, ''Delle varie eresie'' / San Gaudenzio di Brescia, ''Trattati''

External links

Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina
* Carla Setién (2017, Santiago de Compostela) “Herejes en el Antiguo Testamento según Filastrio de Brescia”, in (Re)escribindo a Historia. Achegas dos novos investigadores en Arqueoloxía e Ciencias da Antigüidade, Andavira, pp. 155–170. * Carla Setién (2018) “La transformación de la cultura clásica en el s. IV: el caso de Filastrio de Brescia”, SPhV 20, pp. 195–216. {{Authority control Bishops of Brescia Italian saints Christian anti-Gnosticism 4th-century Italian bishops 390s deaths 4th-century Christian saints Year of birth unknown