SABA THE YOUNGER, Saint. - Basilian ascetic from the 10th century, from Collesano in Sicily, d. 5 February 995. His father, St. Christopher, was a monk at S. Filippo d'Argira; his mother Cali founded a monastery of women; his brother, Macarius the Younger, was together with him one of the leading ascetics of the time.

The Arab invasion of the island and the famine of 940-41 forced him to take refuge in Calabria. The famous monastic eparchy of the Mercurion, in the extreme north-west of the region, was the setting of his ascetic rigorism. In continuous wandering, he founded several cenobies in Calabria and in Lucania; he went on pilgrimage to Rome; he lived for some years in a cave near Amalfi; then he moved near Salerno. The Prince of Salerno, John, and the Duke of Amalfi, Mamone III, appealed to him to obtain the liberation of their sons, hostages of Otto II.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: the biography was written by Orestes, patriarch of Jerusalem, and is found in cod. Vat. gr. 2072, coming from the monastery of Carbone, in Lucania (cf. Anal. Bolland, 21 [1902], 18, 19); it was published by G. Cozza-Luzzi, Historia et laudes ss. Sabae et Macarii, Roma 1893 (offprint from Studi e documenti, 8 [1892]); D. Martire, Calabria sacra e profana, I, Cosenza 1876, 313-25.

Francesco Russo

@incollection{ec10_saba_il_giovane_santo, author = {Russo, Francesco}, title = {Saba Il Giovane, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {1506--1507}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/saba-il-giovane-santo} }

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Saba the Younger, Saint

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