FABRI, HONORÉ. - Jesuit, polymath, b. at Vivien-le-Grand (Ain) on 5 April 1607, d. at Rome on 8 March 1688. He was at first esteemed as a professor of philosophy, physics and mathematics at Lyon (1646-60); then penitentiary of St. Peter's in Rome (1660-80), where, in addition to the duties of his new office, he continued to devote himself to his beloved natural sciences.
Quick and versatile of mind, he wrote much on the most varied subjects; but above all, indulging with excessive liveliness his marked inclination for controversy, he took an active part in the most debated questions of his time, Jansenism and probabilism. Mentioning only the Tractatus physicus de motu locali (Lyon 1646), the Tractatus duo, quorum prior de plantis et de generatione animalium, posterior de homine (2 vols., Paris 1666), in the latter of which he treats of the circulation of the blood, which he observed independently, although later than Harvey, and the Physica, id est scientia rerum corporalium (I, Lyon 1669; II-III, ibid. 1670; IV-V, ibid. 1671), the following works of theological controversy are worthy of note, which aroused much scandal: the Pithanophilus or Dialogus de opinione probabili (Rome 1659) in defense of probabilism, and the Apologeticus doctrinae moralis Societatis Iesu (Lyon 1670), where, after the former, he added other dialogues against the rigorists, such as the Dominican V. Baron and the canonist P. Fagnani, appending other opuscules by various authors on the same subject. The work, placed on the Index in 1672, because it was published without prior Roman censorship, earned the author 50 days of imprisonment, « 45 libertoris carceris, et 5 paulo strictioris et inhonesti » (Reusch [v. bibl.], p. 502). Meanwhile the Apologeticus came out in a 2nd edition, enlarged twofold (2 vols., Cologne 1672), in which there also appeared a confutation of Pascal's Provinciales, and, under the two pseudonyms of B. Stubrock and L. Carter, some notes against G. Wendreck and L. Montalto. The work was again prohibited in 1672 and 1673, and the two series of notes also received their own particular condemnation (1673, 1678). Although they were attributed to him, Fabri, however, always denied being their author. Also worthy of remembrance are: the Corolla Virginiae (Palermo 1655) in defense of the Immaculate Conception; the Euphynodes, seu vir ingeniosus (Lyon 1669) on the studies of humanities and rhetoric; and in defense of the virtues of quinine, a question then vigorously debated, the Pulex Ferencianus vindicatus (1655).
In the question of the regalia, which arose between Louis XIV and Innocent XI, Fabri expressed his opinion that these were purely temporal matters; but having sided with the king, although he did not at all admit the Gallican errors, he had to renounce the office of penitentiary.
Bibliography5 works
Celestino Testore