Fabiola was a nurse (physician) and
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
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 pe ...
Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...
, gave up all earthly pleasures and devoted themselves to the practice of Christian
asceticism and
charitable
The practice of charity is the voluntary giving of help to those in need, as a humanitarian act, unmotivated by self-interest. There are a number of philosophies about charity, often associated with religion.
Etymology
The word ''charity'' or ...
work.
Early life
Fabiola belonged to the patrician Roman family of the
gens 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 Catholic Church, she entered upon a second union before the death of her first husband.
[
At the time of Jerome's stay at ]Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
(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,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
, following the death of her second consort, she appeared before the gates of the Lateran basilica
The Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran ( it, Arcibasilica del Santissimo Salvatore e dei Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano), also known as the Papa ...
, dressed in penitential garb
Garb may refer to:
* Clothing
* Garb, a wheat sheaf (agriculture)
A sheaf (/ʃiːf/) is a bunch of cereal-crop stems bound together after reaping, traditionally by sickle, later by scythe or, after its introduction in 1872, by a mechanical r ...
, and did public penance for her sin, which made a great impression upon the Christian population of Rome. The pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
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 ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. 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 (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
, where she lived in the hospice of the convent directed by Paula of Rome
Paula of Rome (AD 347–404) was an ancient Roman saint and early Desert Mother. A member of one of the richest senatorial families which claimed descent from Agamemnon, Paula was the daughter of Blesilla and Rogatus, from the great clan of t ...
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 century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...
into the eastern provinces of the empire and the quarrel which broke out between Jerome and John II, Bishop of Jerusalem
John II (c. 356 – 10 January 417) was bishop of Jerusalem from AD 387 to AD 417. John II succeeded to the episcopal throne of Jerusalem on the death of Cyril in 386 (or 387). He was the author, according to an increasing number of modern ...
respecting the teachings of Origen
Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theo ...
made residence in Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
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
Pammachius (d. 410 AD) was a Roman senator who is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. He married Paulina. After her death, gave himself up to works of charity.
Biography
Pammachius was born to a noble Roma ...
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.
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.
Augustine of Hippo dedicated a letter to her.
Legacy
Cardinal Wiseman
Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (3 August 1802 – 15 February 1865) was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church who became the first Archbishop of Westminster upon the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1850.
Bor ...
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 or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...
book ''Hypatia
Hypatia, Koine pronunciation (born 350–370; died 415 AD) was a neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a prominent thinker in Alexandria where ...
'' (1853) by Charles Kingsley. The novel was mainly intended to aid the embattled 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 studies ...
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
Francis Alÿs (born 1959, Antwerp) is a Belgian-born, Mexico-based artist.
His work emerges in the interdisciplinary space of art, architecture, and social practice. In 1986, Alÿs left behind his profession as an architect and relocated to Me ...
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 Hispanic Society of America operates a museum and reference library for the study of the arts and cultures of Spain and Portugal and their former colonies in Latin America, the Spanish East Indies, and Portuguese India. Despite the name, i ...
in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, then the LACMA
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum).
LACMA was founded in 196 ...
in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, 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
The Byzantine Fresco Chapel is a part of the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, near the University of St. Thomas. From February 1997 to February 2012, it displayed the only intact Byzantine frescoes of this size and importance in the entire we ...
of the Menil Collection
The Menil Collection, located in Houston, Texas, refers either to a museum that houses the art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, or to the collection itself of approximately 17,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawing ...
in Houston from May 21, 2016, to May 13, 2018."Francis Alÿs: The Fabiola Project", The Menil Collection
/ref>
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
Late Ancient Christian female saints
Ancient women physicians