DANIEL, Saint. - Stylite of the 5th century. The events of this anchorite's life are well known — he was the first to introduce into Byzantium the practice of columns of penance — from a contemporary Life which, despite its thaumaturgical and legendary character, common to Eastern hagiography, agrees perfectly with the dates and historical facts of the time. D. was born at Meratha (Samosata in Syria) in 409, and as a boy of 12 embraced the monastic life. He knew the first stylite, St. Simeon, and was his admirer; he reached Constantinople and lived at first as a solitary in an ancient pagan temple, then mounted his first column (he had three) in the year 460, and in this manner of life, admired by the people, by the bishops and by the emperors, he persevered until his death, in 493.

Among the events of D.'s Life, the case most interesting for the ecclesiastical customs of that era is given by his priestly ordination at a distance, and even against the humble reluctance of the Saint, carried out by Bishop Gennadius at the will of the emperor Leo I.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: H. Delchaye, Vita s. Danielis Stylitos, in Analecta Bolland., 32 [1913], pp. 121-229; id., Les saints stylites, Bruxelles-Parigi 1923, with the critical edition of the ancient Life; E. Dawes-N. Baynes, Three Byzantine saints, Oxford [1928], pp. 1-87.

Emanuele Candal

@incollection{ec4_daniele_santo, author = {Candal, Emanuele}, title = {Daniele, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {1152}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/daniele-santo} }

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Daniel, Saint

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