SABA THE YOUNGER, Saint. — A Basilian ascetic of the 10th century, from Collesano in Sicily, who died on 5 February 995. His father, St. Christopher, was a monk at S. Filippo d'Argira; his mother, Cali, founded a women’s monastery; his brother, Macarius the Younger, was 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 Mercurion, in the extreme northwest of the region, was the scene of his rigorous asceticism. Continuously wandering, he founded several monasteries in Calabria and Lucania; he made a pilgrimage to Rome; spent some years in a cave near Amalfi; and then moved
near Salerno. Both Prince John of Salerno and Duke Mamone III of Amalfi appealed to him to secure the release of their sons, who were hostages of Otto II.