Honoré Fabri

Honoré Fabri (Honoratus Fabrius) (b. 1607 in Ain, France; d. at Rome, 8 March1688) was a French Jesuit theologian. He was a mathematician, physicist and controversialist.

Life

He entered the Society of Jesus at Avignon, in 1626. For eight years he taught philosophy and for six years mathematics at the Jesuit college at Lyons, attracting many pupils. Called to Rome, he became the theologian of the court of the papal penitentiary in the Vatican basilica, a position he held for thirty years.

Works

Sommervogel mentions thirty-one titles of published works in connection with Fabri's name, besides fourteen of his productions in manuscript, in the Library of Lyons.

The following are the more important of his publications:

*"Pithanophilus, seu dialogus vel opusculum de opinione probabili," etc. (Rome, 1659).

This work was attacked by Stephanus Gradius, Prefect of the Vatican Library, in his "Disputatio de opinione probabili" (Rome, 1678; Mechlin, 1679).

*"Honorati Fabri, Societatis Jesu, apolgeticus doctrinæ moralis ejusdem Societatis (Lyons, 1670; Cologne, 1672).

This treats, in eleven dialogues, of probabilism, explaining its true nature, and refuting the charges of its opponents. The Cologne edition was considerably enlarged but did not meet with ecclesiastical approbation; it was placed on the Index of forbidden books soon after its appearance.

*"Una fides unius Ecclesiæ Romanæ contra indifferentes hujus sæculi tribus librus facili methodo asserto" (Dillingen, 1657).
* "Summula theologica in quâ quæstiones omnes alicujus momenti, quæ a Scholasticus agitari solent, breviter discutiuntur ac definiuntur" (Lyons, 1669).

The principles on which this work constructs its theological conclusions are far different from those of Aristotle.

*"Euphiander seu vir ingeniosus", (Lyons, 1669; Vienna, 1731; Budapest, 1749; Ofen, 1763).

Most of Fabri's other works deal with philosophy, mathematics, physics, astronomy, and even zoology, In his treatise on man he claims to have discovered the circulation of the blood, prior to William Harvey, but after having investigated this question, Father Auguste Bellynck arrives at the conclusion that, at best, Father Fabri may have made the discovery independently of Harvey [cf. Bellynck, "Cours de Zoologie", 1864, p. 23.] .

References

*Sommervogel, "Bibl. de la C. de J." (Brussels and Paris, 1892), III, 511-521;
*Hugo von Hurter, "Nomenclator Literarius" (Innsbruck 1893), tom. II, 598-600.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05743c.htm "Catholic Encyclopedia" article]
* [http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/sj/scientists/fabri.htm "Honoré Fabri, S.J. (1607 to 1688) and his post-calculus geometry"]
* [http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Fabri.html MacTutor page]
* [http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/fabri.html Galileo Project page]