Fabiola (, also known as Fabiola of Rome) was a physician and Roman matron of rank of the company of noble Roman women who, under the influence of the

Church Father The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

, gave up all earthly pleasures and devoted herself to the practice of Christian

asceticism Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing Spirituality, spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world ...

and charitable work. She is venerated as a saint in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

and

Roman Catholic church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, being commemorated on 27 December.

Early life

Fabiola belonged to the patrician Roman family of the

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; : gentes ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same ''nomen gentilicium'' and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens, sometimes identified by a distinct cognomen, was cal ...

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 Christian Church, she entered upon a second union before the death of her first husband. At the time of Jerome's stay 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, ...

(382–84), Fabiola was not one of the ascetic circle which gathered around him. It was only later that, upon the death of her second consort, she decided to enter upon a life of renunciation and labour for others.Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Fabiola." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 26 November 2021 On the day before

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

, following the death of her second consort, she appeared before the gates of the Lateran basilica, dressed in penitential garb, and did public penance for her sin, which made a great impression upon the Christian population of Rome. The

pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

received her formally again into full communion with the church.

Conversion to Christianity and later life

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, and treated citizens rejected from society due to their "loathsome diseases". Besides this she gave large sums to the churches and religious communities at Rome and other places in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. All her interests were centered on the needs of the church and the care of the poor and suffering. In 395 she went to

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

, where she lived in the hospice of the convent directed by

Paula of Rome Paula of Rome (AD 347–404) was an ancient ancient Rome, Roman Christianity, Christian saint and early Desert Mothers, Desert Mother. A member of one of the richest Roman Senate, senatorial families which claimed descent from Agamemnon, Paula wa ...

and applied herself, under the direction of Jerome, with the greatest zeal to the study and contemplation of the scriptures and to ascetic exercises. An incursion of the

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...

into the eastern provinces of the empire and the quarrel which broke out between Jerome and John II, Bishop of Jerusalem respecting the teachings of

Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...

made residence in

unpleasant for her and she returned to Rome. She remained, however, in correspondence with 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 undertaking; together they erected at Portus 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 on 27 December of 399 or 400. Although Fabiola's practice of medicine was pragmatic in application, her legacy illustrates the involvement of early Christian women in the field of medicine. The Fabiola with whom the church father Augustine of Hippo was in correspondence was possibly a daughter of the saint Fabiola.

Veneration

Her funeral was a wonderful manifestation of the gratitude and veneration with which she was regarded by the Roman populace. Jerome wrote a eulogistic memoir of Fabiola in a letter to her relative Oceanus. She is venerated as a saint in the

and

, with a feast day on 27 December

Legacy

Cardinal Wiseman immortalised her in his novel, '' Fabiola''. Wiseman wrote ''Fabiola'' in part as an answer to the vigorously

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics and opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and its adherents. Scholars have identified four categories of anti-Catholicism: constitutional-national, theological, popular and socio-cul ...

book ''

Hypatia Hypatia (born 350–370 – March 415 AD) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt (Roman province), Egypt: at that time a major city of the Eastern Roman Empire. In Alexandria, Hypatia was ...

'' (1853) by Charles Kingsley. The novel was mainly intended to aid the embattled Roman Catholic minority in England.

Jean-Jacques Henner Jean-Jacques Henner (5 March 1829 – 23 July 1905) was a French painter, noted for his use of sfumato and chiaroscuro in painting nudes, religious subjects and portraits. Biography Henner was born at Bernwiller (Alsace). He began his stud ...

painted his portrait of Fabiola (in a classical Roman profile) in 1885; the original of this idealized portrayal of the saint was lost in 1912 but the image was copied by artists around the globe in the following century. In 2008, contemporary artist Francis Alÿs mounted a traveling exhibition of over 300 of these copies from his own collection. The exhibition first ran at the

Hispanic Society of America The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term. The term commonly appl ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, then the LACMA in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, going on to the National Portrait Gallery in London from May to September 2009. The collection, grown to include 514 copies of the portrait, was later on show at the Byzantine Fresco Chapel of the Menil Collection in Houston from May 21, 2016, to May 13, 2018."Francis Alÿs: The Fabiola Project", The Menil Collection
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabiola 4th-century births 399 deaths Fabii Italian Roman Catholic saints 4th-century Roman physicians 4th-century Christian saints 4th-century Roman women 4th-century Romans Ancient Christian female saints Ancient women physicians