FILASTRIO di BRESCIA. — Ecclesiastical writer of the fourth century, who died between 391 and 397. From the discourse delivered in his honor by his successor, St. Gaudentius, on the fifteenth anniversary of his death (PL 20, 997–1002, CSEL 68, pp. 135–39), we learn that F., having left his homeland (which is not named), was ordained a priest and traveled throughout almost the entire Roman world to preach the word of the Lord, fighting against pagans, Jews, and heretics, especially against Arianism, and for this reason also enduring corporal punishments. At Milan he opposed Auxentius, the Arian predecessor of Ambrose; he also labored for a long time at Rome; then, having come to Brescia, he was elected its bishop, seventh in the succession of pastors of the Church of Brescia: this occurred no later than 381, in which year he signed, as bishop of Brescia, the acts of the Council of Aquileia. As bishop, too, he was sometimes at Milan, with St. Ambrose, whom St. Augustine saw with him (Ep. 222, 2), between 384 and 387.
He composed a Liber de haerentibus, between 383 and 391, in which he enumerates 136 heresies, 28 Jewish and 128 Christian. The list of the latter is divided into two parts, of 64 chapters each: the first, more concise, gives the biographies of heretics and heresiarchs; the second, modeled on doxographical collections, expands upon the exposition of the doctrines. The large number of heresies—almost twice as many as those enumerated by St. Epiphanius, who had listed 80 in his Huerser—grouped according to an evidently artificial numerical scheme, is attained through repetitions and vicious splitting, counting among the heresies, both Jewish and Christian, interpretations of biblical passages that the author considered erroneous; he, as St. Augustine already pointed out (in the cited epistle), did not have a clear concept of heresy. Augustine, who reproaches Epiphanius with the same defect, nevertheless considers the latter superior to F. F., in fact, shows neither historical sense nor speculative ability. The interesting part of his work is that which comprises the last 64 heresies (chs. 93–156), where he seems to speak from direct knowledge. For the rest, the sources have not yet been sufficiently studied. At first it was thought that F. had drawn upon the aforementioned work of Epiphanius; now the prevailing opinion is that the two made use of the same source, the Syntagma of Hippolytus. Although of little value, F.’s work enjoyed no inconsiderable success, since it was used by St. Gaudentius, St. Augustine in the treatise of the same name, and the so-called Predestinate.