DANIELE, saint. - A Stylite of the fifth century. We are well informed about the life of this anchorite, the first to introduce into Byzantium the practice of penitential columns, through a contemporary Vita which, despite its thaumaturgic and legendary character, common to Eastern hagiography, accords very well with the dates and historical events of the period. D. was born at Meratha (Samosata in Syria) in 409, and at the age of twelve embraced the monastic life. He knew the first Stylite, St. Simeone, and admired him; he arrived in Costantinopoli and first lived as a solitary in an ancient pagan temple, then ascended his first column (he had three) in the year 460, and in this manner of life, admired by the people, bishops, and emperors, he persevered until his death in 493.
Among the events in the Vita of D., the case most interesting for the ecclesiastical practices of that period is his priestly ordination at a distance, and even against the Saint’s humble reluctance, performed by Bishop Gennadio at the behest of the Emperor Leone I.
Emanuele Candal
DANIELE. - Abbot in Scete, who lived in the 6th century and died after Justinian (565). In the texts that have come down to us concerning the life of D., it is difficult to distinguish historical facts from legendary ones. The following may appear historical. While still young, he became a monk in Scete (Wādi en-Natrūn). He was enslaved by nomads but later managed to return to Scete. Having gained great fame, he left Scete and established his residence in the Delta near the village of Zambok (cf. E. Amélineau, La géographie d'Égypte à l'époque copte, Paris 1893, p. 476), where he built a small monastery; there he died and was buried. He is greatly venerated by Copts and Ethiopians (Sinassario arabo, 8th of the month of Baschen, and Sinassario etiopico, 8th of the month of Gēnbōt).
The texts that have survived concerning the life of D. are as follows: the original Greek text, edited by L. Clugnet, Vie et récits de l'abbé Daniel (in Revue de l'Orient chrétien, 5 [1900], pp. 50, 254-370); the Syriac text edited by F. Nau (ibid., p. 391); the Coptic text edited by I. Guidi (ibid., p. 553 and 6 [1901], p. 51); the Arabic text, still unpublished (cf. G. Graf, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur, Città del Vaticano 1944, p. 403); and the Ethiopic text edited by L. Goldschmidt and E. Pereira (Vita do Abba Daniel, Lisbon 1897) and corrected by I. Guidi, Vie de l'abbé Daniel (in Revue de l'Orient chrétien, 6 [1901], p. 54).