ELIJAH OF ENNA, Saint. - Greek-Sicilian monk of adventurous life, b. at Enna (Castrogiovanni) ca. 825, d. 17 Aug. 903. Made a slave by the Saracens, he was taken to Africa, from where he managed to escape and gave himself to pilgrimaging through the Holy Land, where he received the monastic habit, through Greece, Egypt, Africa and Sicily, finally settling at Taormina.

As the city was about to fall, E. moved to Calabria, where he founded a monastery at Saline near Reggio. He pilgrimaged to Rome, was at Amalfi, and after many other vicissitudes, withdrew into a cave on Monte Aulina, near Palmi. The emperor Leo VI the Philosopher summoned him to Constantinople. On the return journey, E. died at Thessalonica. His body was transferred to Aulina, which took its name from him, from where it later passed to Galatro.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: The life is found in the Greek Messina codex 29 (ff. 196-203). It was translated into Latin by A. Fiorito and published by G. Gasumi, in Vitae SS. Siculorum, II, Palermo 1857, reproduced in Acta SS. Augusti, III (1867), pp. 459-507; D. Martire, Calabria sacra e profana, I, Cosenza 1877, pp. 282-82; M. Scaduto, Il monachismo basiliano nella Sicilia medievale, Rome 1947, pp. XXVIII-XXIX.

Francesco Russo

@incollection{ec5_elia_d_enna_santo, author = {Russo, Francesco}, title = {Elia d'Enna, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {237}, 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/elia-d-enna-santo} }

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Elijah of Enna, Saint

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