FABER (FAVRE, LEFÈVRE), PIERRE, Blessed. - Jesuit, b. 13 Apr. 1506 at Villaret in Savoy. From 1525 he was a student at the Sorbonne in Paris, sharing a room with St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Francis Xavier at the College of St. Barbara. After being ordained a priest and promoted to magister artium, he gave his name to the newly founded Society of Jesus by accepting the first vows of his companions at Montmartre (1534). Having moved with them to Italy, to Venice (1536) and to Rome (1537), Faber was entrusted by Paul III with the chair of theology at the Sapienza, together with Lainez.
From 1540 he was in Germany engaged in religious controversies, strengthening Catholics against Protestantism, and taking part in various diets at Worms, Ratisbon (1540-41), Spires (1542), and Mainz (1543). After a journey to Belgium, returning to Cologne (1544), he founded there the first Jesuit residence in Germany. Invited to Spain and Portugal to work on ecclesiastical affairs and for the Order, he went to Lisbon, where John III wished to retain him permanently, then to Évora, Valladolid, Toledo, Madrid, Gandia, Valencia, Barcelona. Recalled to take part in the Council of Trent as a theologian of the Pope, Faber set out already ill and died at Rome fourteen days after his arrival, on 16 Aug. 1546. He was beatified by Pius IX (5 Sept. 1872). His feast is kept on 1 Aug. For his deep piety, modesty, gentleness, learning, and holiness of life he exercised great influence in every place he visited, and to him in large measure is due the sympathy which the Society of Jesus thus enjoyed. His spiritual diary, the Memoriale, and some spiritual letters remain, revealing a soul of intense interior life.