Michael Syncellus (MICHELE, SINCELLO) - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VIII, p. 575

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

MICHELE, SINCELLO. – Born in Jerusalem around 761, died there on 4 January 846. Venerated as a saint by the Greeks on 18 December. An hesychast monk of the lavra of S. Sabba in Jerusalem, he was teacher of the celebrated Grapti brothers, Teodoro and Teofane. Together with them and the monk Giobbe, he took part in the controversies concerning the Filioque with the Olivetan Benedictines of the Holy City, and he would have come to Rome to resolve the question had he not been detained in Constantinople by the upheavals of the iconoclastic struggle. He restored the monastery of Chora in the capital and was appointed syncellus by his friend S. Metodio. He maintained an epistolary correspondence with S. Teodoro Studita; he wrote a Libellus de fide orthodoxa (ed. by B. de Montfaucon, in Biblioth. coisliniana, Paris 1715, pp. 90 ff.) and Δέγας συντάξεως, as well as panegyrics, speeches, and poems; establishing their authenticity, however, is difficult.

BIBL.: two Vita, edited by Th. I. Schmidt in the Boll. dell'Itin. archeol. russo di Costantinopoli (in Russian), 11 (1906), pp. 227–279. Studies: S. Valliè, St Michel le Syncelle et les deux frères Grapti, in Revue de l'orient chrétien, 6 (1901), pp. 311–32.

Article illustration — (courtesy of Fr. A. Muncena) MICHELE GARIGOITS, saint – Portrait.

For years he undertook the hard work of the fields; then, aided by the charity of several people, he began ecclesiastical studies, which he pursued through the priesthood (1823).

Assistant parish priest at Cambo (1824), professor at the Seminary of Bétharram from 1825 and rector from 1831 to 1833, he aimed above all at enlightening the people and combating the Jansenist prejudice against frequent reception of the Sacraments; when the seminarians were transferred to Bayonne, he remained to guard the Sanctuary attached to it and considered founding there the new Congregation of the Priests of the S. Cuore di Gesù, who would devote themselves to missions in the parishes, spiritual exercises, and the education of youth. The first to benefit from the fruitful work of the new missionaries was the diocese of Bayonne, to which the Sanctuary belonged; in a short time it became one of the most Christian regions of France. The Institute grew and spread throughout France and also abroad, especially in South America, increasing the Saint’s labors, but also his trust in God and his spirit of penance, by which he wished to make reparation for souls and wrest from God the most marvelous conversions.

He was beatified by Pius XI on 10 May 1927 and canonized by Pius XII on 6 July 1947.

BIBL.: B. Bourdenne, La vie et l'oeuvre du vln. Michel G., Tarbes 1921; anonymous, II b. M. G., Acquapendente n.d.; AAS, 39 (1947), pp. 329–32, 401–408. Celestino Testore