Saint Panthène d'Alexandrie
Patriarche (+ v.
215)
Philosophe stoïcien, il se convertit au christianisme puis fonda le célèbre centre d'enseignement de philosophie et de théologie connu sous le nom d'École d'Alexandrie.
Commémoraison de saint Panthène d'Alexandrie, homme apostolique, rempli de
science et de sagesse ; il eut tant de zèle et d'amour pour la parole de Dieu
qu'il alla, dit-on, prêcher l'Évangile du Christ, dans l'ardeur de sa foi et de
son dévouement, jusqu'aux extrémités de l'Orient; puis revenu à Alexandrie, il
y reposa dans la paix, sous Antonin Caracalla, vers 215.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1462/Saint-Panth%C3%A8ne-d-Alexandrie.html
Pantène, le sicilien
Père de l’Église, Saint
IIIe siècle
Pantène, digne des temps apostoliques, florissait dans le second siècle de l'Église. Il était Sicilien de naissance et faisait profession de la philosophie stoïcienne. Son éloquence l'a fait appeler, par Clément d'Alexandrie, l’Abeille de Sicile. L'amour qu'il avait pour la vertu lui inspira de l'estime pour les chrétiens, et il se lia étroitement avec quelques-uns d'entre eux. Frappé de l'innocence et de la sainteté de leur vie, il se désabusa des superstitions du paganisme et ouvrit les yeux à la lumière de l'Évangile.
Après sa conversion, il étudia les livres saints, sous les disciples des Apôtres. Pour en acquérir une plus parfaite intelligence, il alla fixer sa demeure à Alexandrie, en Égypte. Il y avait dans cette ville une célèbre école où l'on enseignait la doctrine chrétienne, et qui devait son établissement aux disciples de saint Marc.
Pantène fit de
rapides progrès dans la science des saintes lettres; mais il cachait par
humilité ses rares talents. On les découvrit bientôt malgré lui, et on le tira
de l'obscurité dans laquelle il avait cherché à vivre inconnu. Il fut mis à la
tête de l'école des chrétiens, quelque temps avant l'an 179 de Jésus-Christ,
qui était la première du règne de l'empereur Commode. Sa capacité, jointe à
l'excellente méthode qu'il suivait en enseignant, lui acquit une réputation
dont ne jouirent jamais les plus fameux philosophes. Ses leçons, qui étaient un
composé du suc des fleurs qu'il ramassait dans les écrits des prophètes et dans
ceux des Apôtres, portaient la lumière de la science et l'amour de la vertu
dans les âmes de tous ceux qui venaient l'entendre. C'est le témoignage que lui
rend Clément d'Alexandrie, un de ses disciples.
Les Indiens que le
commerce attirait à Alexandrie, eurent occasion de connaître saint Pantène. Ils
le prièrent de passer dans leur pays pour y combattre la doctrine des
brachmanes par celle de Jésus-Christ. Il se rendit à leurs instances , quitta
son école, et partit pour les Indes, avec la permission de son évêque, qui
l'établit prédicateur de l'Évangile pour les nations orientales. En arrivant
dans les Indes, il y trouva quelques semences de la foi qui y avaient été
jetées précédemment. Il y vit aussi un livre de l'Évangile de saint Matthieu,
en hébreu, qui avait été laissé dans le pays par saint Barthélemy. Étant revenu
à Alexandrie quelques années après, il y apporta ce livre avec lui.
L'école de cette
ville était alors gouvernée par le célèbre Clément. Saint Pantène continua
toujours d'enseigner; mais il ne le fit plus qu'en particulier. Il exerça cet
emploi jusqu'au règne de Caracalla, et, par conséquent, jusqu'avant l'année
216. On lit sou nom sous le 7 de juillet dans tous les martyrologes d'Occident.
SOURCE : http://nouvl.evangelisation.free.fr/pantene_le_sicilien.htm
Also
known as
Sicilian Bee
Panteno
Profile
Known and praised for his
learning, wisdom and holiness by many writers including Saint Jerome.
Head of the Orthodox School in Alexandria, Egypt where Origen became
a great teacher.
Born
c.190
Additional
Information
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of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
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of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
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of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
Short
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books
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sitios
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Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Pantaenus of
Alexandria“. CatholicSaints.Info. 6 April 2026. Web. 22 April 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-pantaenus-of-alexandria/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-pantaenus-of-alexandria/
Article
(Saint) (July 7)
(3rd
century) One of the Fathers of the Church of Alexandria in Egypt,
celebrated as the Master of Clement of Alexandria, and Founder of the School of
which Origen was
the great luminary. He is extolled as a most learned and holy man by Saint Jerome
and others. Tradition attributes to him a missionary journey
into Hindustan. He died A.D.
216.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Pantaenus”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
30 June 2016. Web. 22 April 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-pantaenus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-pantaenus/
Pantaenus of Alexandria (RM)
Born in Sicily; died c. 216. Saint Pantaenus was a
convert from Stoicism. He became the head of the catechetical school of
Alexandria, which reached the height of its prestige under his direction. He is
said to have ended his life as a missionary in India, but it is more likely
that he worked in Ethiopia (Benedictines). In art, Saint Pantaenus is shown
lecturing from the pulpit (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0707.shtml
Pantænus
Head of the Catechetical School
of Alexandria about 180 (Eusebius, Church
History V.10), still alive in 193 (Eusebius,
"Chron." Abr., 2210). As he was succeeded by Clement who
left Alexandria about 203, the probable date of
his death would be about 200. He was trained in the Stoic philosophy;
as a Christian missionary,
he reached India (probably
South Arabia), and found there Christians possessing the Gospel of St.
Matthew in Hebrew, which they had received from St. Bartholomew.
All this is given by Eusebius as
what was "said" (Church
History V.11). Eusebius continues:
"In his 'Hypotyposes' he [Clement] speaks of Pantænus by name as his
teacher. It seems to me that he alludes to the same person also
in his 'Stromata'."
In the passage of the "Stromata" (I.1),
which Eusebius proceeds
to quote, Clement enumerates his principal teachers, giving their
nationality but not their names. The last, with whom Eusebius would
identify Pantænus, was "a Hebrew of Palestine, greater than
all the others [in ability], whom having hunted out in his
concealment in Egypt,
I found rest." These teachers "preserving the true tradition of
the blessed doctrine from
the Holy Apostles Peter and James, John and Paul .
. . came, by God's will,
even to us" etc. Against Eusebius's conjecture
it may be suggested that a Hebrew of Palestine was not likely to be
trained in Stoic philosophy.
In its favour are the facts that the teacher was met in Egypt,
and that Pantænus endeavoured to press the Greek philosophers into
the service of Christianity.
It may well be that a mind like Clement's "found
rest" in this feature of his teaching.
Eusebius (VI,
xiii) says again that Clement in his "Hypotyposes"
mentioned Pantænus, and further adds that he gave "his opinions
and traditions". The inference commonly drawn from this statement is
that, in the extant fragments of the "Hypotyposes" where he quotes
"the elders", Clement had Pantænus in mind; and
one opinion or tradition in particular, assigned to
"the blessed elder" (Eusebius, Church
History VI.14), is unhesitatingly ascribed to Pantænus. But this
is incautious, for we cannot be sure that Clement would have
reckoned Pantænus among the elders; and if he did so, there were other
elders whom he had known (Church
History VI.13). Origen,
defending his use of Greek philosophers, appeals to
the example of Pantænus, "who benefited many before
our time by his thorough preparation in such things" (Church
History VI.19). That Pantænus
anticipated Clement and Origen in
the study of Greek philosophy, as an aid to theology,
is the most important fact we know concerning
him. Photius (cod. 118) states, in his account of the "Apology
for Origen"
by Pamphilus and Eusebius (see SAINT
PAMPHILUS OF CÆSAREA), that they said Pantænus had been a hearer
of men who had seen the Apostles, nay, even had heard them
himself. The second statement may have been a conjecture based upon the
identification of Pantænus with one of the teachers described in Stromata I.1,
and a too literal interpretation of what is said about these teachers deriving
their doctrine direct
from the Apostles.
The first statement may well have been made by Clement; it explains why he
should mention Pantænus in his "Hypotyposes", a book apparently
made up of traditions received from the elders. Pantænus is
quoted;
(a) in the "Eclogæ ex Prophetis" (Migne,
"Clem. Alex.", II, 723) and
(b) in the "Scholia in Greg. Theolog."
of St.
Maximus Confessor.
But these quotations may have been taken from the
"Hypotyposes". The last named in his prologue to
"Dionys. Areop." (ed. Corder, p. 36) speaks casually of his
writings, but he merely seems to assume he must have written. A
conjecture has been hazarded by Lightfoot (Apost. Fathers, 488), and
followed up by Batiffol ("L'glise naissante", 3rd ed., 213 sqq.),
that Pantænus was the writer of the concluding chapters of
the "Epistle
to Diognetus". The chief, though not the only ground for this
suggestion, is that Anastasius Sinaita in two passages (ed. Migne,
pp. 860, 892) singles out Pantænus with two or three other
early Fathers as interpreting the six days of Creation and
the Garden
of Eden as figuring Christ and
the Church —
a line of thought pursued in the fragment.
Sources
BARDENHEWER, Gesch. der altkirch. Lit., II, 13
sqq.; HARNACK, Altchrist. Lit., 291 sqq.; TILLEMONT, Hist. ecclés.,
III, 170 sqq.; CEILLIER, Hist. des aut., II, 237 sqq.; ROUTH, Relig.
sac., I, 237 sqq.
Bacchus, Francis Joseph. "Pantænus." The
Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1911. 7 Jul. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11446b.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. February
1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal
Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2026 by New Advent LLC.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11446b.htm
St. Pantænus, Father of the Church
See St. Jerom, Catal. Clem. Alex. and Eusebius. Also
Ceillier, t. 2, p. 237
THIS learned father and apostolic man flourished in
the second age. He was by birth a Sicilian, and by profession a stoic
philosopher. For his eloquence he is styled by St. Clement of Alexandria the
Sicilian Bee. His esteem for virtue led him into an acquaintance with the
Christians, and being charmed with the innocence and sanctity of their
conversation he opened his eyes to the truth. He studied the holy scriptures
under the disciples of the apostles, and his thirst after sacred learning
brought him to Alexandria in Egypt, where the disciples of St. Mark had
instituted a celebrated school of the Christian doctrine. Pantænus sought not
to display his talents in that great mart of literature and commerce; but his
great progress in sacred learning was after some time discovered, and he was
drawn out of that obscurity in which his humility sought to live buried. Being
placed at the head of the Christian school some time before the year 179, which
was the first of Commodus, by his learning and excellent manner of teaching he
raised its reputation above all the schools of the philosophers, and the
lessons which he read, and which were gathered from the flowers of the prophets
and apostles, conveyed light and knowledge into the minds of all his hearers,
as St. Clement of Alexandria, his eminent scholar, says of him. The Indians who
traded to Alexandria, entreated him to pay their country a visit, in order to
confute their Brachmans. Hereupon he forsook his school, and was established by
Demetrius, who was made bishop of Alexandria in 189, preacher of the gospel to
the Eastern nations. Eusebius tells us that St. Pantænus found some seeds of
the faith already sown in the Indies, and a book of the gospel of St. Matthew
in Hebrew, which St. Bartholomew had carried thither. He brought it back with
him to Alexandria, whither he returned after he had zealously employed some
years in instructing the Indians in the faith. The public school was at that
time governed by St. Clement, but St. Pantænus continued to teach in private
till in the reign of Caracalla, consequently before the year 216, he closed a
noble and excellent life by a happy death, as Rufinus writes. 1 His
name is inserted in all western martyrologies on the 7th of July
The beauty of the Christian morality, and the sanctity
of its faithful professors, which by their charms converted this true
philosopher, appear no where to greater advantage than when they are compared
with the imperfect and often false virtue of the most famous sages of the
heathen world. 2 Into
what contradictions and gross errors did they fall, even about the divinity
itself and the sovereign good! To how many vices did they give the name of
virtues! How many crimes did they canonize! It is true they showed indeed a
zeal for justice, a contempt of riches and pleasures, moderation in prosperity,
patience in adversities, generosity, courage, and disinterestedness. But these
were rather shadows and phantoms than real virtues, if they sprang from a
principle of vanity and pride, or were infected with the poison of
interestedness or any other vitiated intention, which they often betrayed, nay
sometimes openly avowed, and made a subject of their vain boasts.
Note 1. Rufin. b. 5, c. 10. [back]
Note 2. Socrates in all things he said, used to
add this form of speech, “By my Demon’s leave.” Just upon the point of
expiring, he ordered a cock to be sacrificed to Esculapius. (Plato’s Phædo sub
finem.) And in his trial we read one article of his impeachment to have been a
charge of unnatural lust. Thales, the prince of naturalists, being asked by
Crœsus what God was, put off that prince from time to time, saying, “I will
consider on it.” But the meanest mechanic among the Christians can explain
himself intelligibly on the Creator of the Universe. Diogenes could not be
contented in his tub without gratifying his passions. And when with his dirty
feet he trod upon Plato’s costly carpets, crying that he trampled upon the
pride of Plato, he did this, as Plato answered him, with greater pride.
Pythagoras affected tyranny at Thurium, and Zeno at Pyrene. Lycurgus made away
with himself because he was unable to bear the thought of the Lacedæmonians
correcting the severity of his laws. Anaxagoras had not fidelity enough to
restore to strangers the goods which they had committed to his trust. Aristotle
could not sit easy till he proudly made his friend Hermias sit below him; and
he was as gross a flatterer of Alexander for the sake of vanity, as Plato was
of Dionysius for his belly. From Plato and Socrates the stoics derived their
proud maxim, “The wise man is self-sufficient.” Epictetus himself allows “to be
proud of the conquest of any vice.” Aristotle (Ethic ad Nicom. l. 10, c. 7,)
and Cicero patronize revenge. See B. Cumberland of the Laws of Nature, c. 9, p.
346. Abbé Batteux demonstrates the impiety and vices of Epicurus mingled with
some virtues and great moral truths. (La Morale d’Epicure, à Paris, 1758.) The
like blemishes may be found in the doctrine and lives of all the other boasted
philosophers of paganism. See Theodoret. De curandis Græcor. affectibus,
&c. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
VII: July. The Lives of the Saints. 1866
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/071.html
Lives
of Illustrious Men – Pantaenus the philosopher
Article
Pantaenus, a philosopher
of the stoic school, according to some old Alexandrian custom, where, from the
time of Mark the evangelist the ecclesiastics were always doctors, was of so
great prudence and erudition both in scripture and secular literature that, on
the request of the legates of that nation, he was sent to India by Demetrius
bishop of Alexandria, where he found that Bartholomew, one of the twelve
apostles, had preached the advent of the Lord Jesus according to the gospel of
Matthew, and on his return to Alexandria he brought this with him written in
Hebrew characters. Many of his commentaries on Holy Scripture are indeed
extant, but his living voice was of still greater benefit to the churches. He
taught in the reigns of the emperor Severus and Antoninus surnamed Caracalla.
MLA
Citation
Saint Jerome.
“Pantaenus the philosopher”. Lives of Illustrious
Men, translated by Ernest Cushing Richardson. CatholicSaints.Info.
22 November 2014. Web. 23 April 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/lives-of-illustrious-men-pantaenus-the-philosopher/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/lives-of-illustrious-men-pantaenus-the-philosopher/
Pictorial
Lives of the Saints – Saint Pantaenus, Father of the Church
Article
This learned father and
apostolic man flourished in the second century. He was by birth a Sicilian, by
profession a Stoic philosopher. His esteem for virtue led him into an
acquaintance with the Christians, and being charmed with the innocence and
sanctity of their conversation, he opened his eyes to the truth. He studied the
Holy Scriptures under the disciples of the apostles, and his thirst after
sacred learning brought him to Alexandria, in Egypt, where the disciples of
Saint Mark had instituted a celebrated school of the Christian doctrine.
Pantaenus sought not to display his talents in that great mart of literature
and commerce; but his great progress in sacred learning was after some time
discovered, and he was drawn out of that obscurity in which his humility sought
to bury itself. Being placed at the head of the Christian school some time
before the year 179, by his learning and excellent manner of teaching he raised
its reputation above all the schools of the philosophers, and the lessons which
he read, and which were gathered from the flowers of the prophets and apostles,
conveyed light and knowledge into the minds of all his hearers. The Indians who
traded at Alexandria entreated him to pay their country a visit, whereupon he
forsook his school and went to preach the Gospel to the Eastern nations. Saint
Pantamus found some seeds of the faith already sown in the Indies, and a book
of the Gospel of Saint Matthew in Hebrew, which Saint Bartholomew had carried
thither. He brought it back with him to Alexandria, whither he returned after
he had zealously employed some years in instructing the Indians in the faith.
Saint Pantaenus continued to teach in private till about the year 216, when he
closed a noble and excellent life by a happy death.
Reflection – “Have a care
that none lead you astray by a false philosophy,” says Saint Paul, for
philosophy without religion is a vain thing.
MLA
Citation
John Dawson Gilmary Shea.
“Saint Pantaenus, Father of the Church”. Pictorial
Lives of the Saints, 1922. CatholicSaints.Info.
11 December 2018. Web. 23 April 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-pantaenus-father-of-the-church/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-pantaenus-father-of-the-church/
Short
Lives of the Saints – Saint Pantenus, Confessor
Entry
Saint Pantenus was a
noble philosopher of the ancient Stoics who, having been converted to
Christianity, was charged with the direction of a school of Christian
philosophy at Alexandria instituted by the disciples of Saint Mark. Whilst
Pantenus was zealously fulfilling the duties of his office, the bishop of
Alexandria deputed him to journey to the Indies, to combat the doctrines of the
Brahmins, and to rekindle in that region the light of the faith. The holy
missionary returned after some years, bringing with him a copy of Saint
Matthew’s Gospel in Hebrew, which must have been taken to the Indies by Saint
Bartholomew. Saint Pantenus died the death of the saints at Alexandria in the
year 215.
But an old age, serene
and bright,
And lovely as a Lapland night.
Shall lead thee to thy grave.
– William Wordsworth
Favorite Practice – To
sanctify ones life, as Saint Pantenus taught, rather than to indulge in subtle
controversies.
MLA
Citation
Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly.
“Saint Pantenus, Confessor”. Short
Lives of the Saints, 1910. CatholicSaints.Info.
17 April 2021. Web. 23 April 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/short-lives-of-the-saints-saint-pantenus-confessor/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/short-lives-of-the-saints-saint-pantenus-confessor/
San Panteno di
Alessandria
Festa: 7 luglio
Sicilia, II sec.
Figura di spicco del II
secolo, fu un filosofo stoico convertitosi al cristianesimo. Fondò la
celebre scuola catechetica di Alessandria, dove insegnò a conciliare la
fede cristiana con la filosofia greca. La sua figura è avvolta da un'aura
di mistero, legata alla leggenda del suo viaggio missionario in
India. Maestro di Clemente Alessandrino, Panteno è considerato un
esempio di sincretismo culturale, avendo saputo coniugare la sua
formazione filosofica con la fede cristiana.
Martirologio
Romano: Commemorazione di san Panteno di Alessandria, che fu uomo pervaso
di zelo apostolico e ricco di ogni sapienza. Si tramanda che tali siano stati
il suo interesse e l’amore per la parola di Dio, da partire, pieno di fede e di
pietà, per portare l’annuncio del Vangelo di Cristo ai popoli sconosciuti delle
lontane regioni d’Oriente; tornato infine ad Alessandria, riposò in pace al
tempo dell’imperatore Antonino Caracalla.
Il 7 luglio la Chiesa
celebra la memoria di San Panteno, figura di spicco nella storia del
cristianesimo antico e fondatore della celebre scuola catechetica di
Alessandria. Nonostante la scarsità di fonti primarie, la sua figura è avvolta
da un'aura di mistero e ammirazione, che ne fanno uno dei personaggi più
affascinanti del II secolo.
Dalla Filosofia al Cristianesimo
Nato in Sicilia, Panteno fu inizialmente un filosofo di scuola stoica,
profondamente immerso nella cultura greca. La sua conversione al cristianesimo,
avvenuta in età adulta, segnò un punto di svolta nella sua vita e lo condusse a
una radicale riconsiderazione del suo sapere.
La Scuola Catechetica di Alessandria
Intorno al 180, Panteno fondò ad Alessandria una scuola catechetica, destinata
a diventare uno dei centri più importanti per l'elaborazione teologica del
cristianesimo. Qui, egli si dedicò all'insegnamento della fede cristiana,
cercando di conciliare la dottrina cristiana con la filosofia greca. Il suo
obiettivo era quello di rendere il messaggio evangelico accessibile ai culti
intellettuali del suo tempo, offrendo una risposta razionale alle domande
esistenziali dell'uomo.
Missionario in Oriente
Una delle leggende più affascinanti legate a San Panteno riguarda il suo
viaggio missionario in India. Secondo la tradizione, il vescovo Demetrio di
Alessandria lo avrebbe inviato in Oriente per diffondere il Vangelo. Durante
questo viaggio, Panteno avrebbe rinvenuto una copia dei Vangeli in ebraico, una
scoperta che avrebbe suscitato grande entusiasmo nell'ambiente cristiano.
Maestro Spirituale
Tra i discepoli più illustri di Panteno vi fu Clemente Alessandrino, che in seguito divenne a sua volta direttore della scuola catechetica. Clemente ereditò dal suo maestro la passione per l'armonia tra fede e ragione, e ne proseguì l'opera di approfondimento teologico.
La figura di San Panteno rappresenta un esempio straordinario di sincretismo culturale. Egli riuscì a coniugare la sua formazione filosofica con la fede cristiana, dando vita a una sintesi originale e feconda. Il suo pensiero esercitò una profonda influenza sulla teologia cristiana dei secoli successivi, e la sua scuola di Alessandria divenne un modello per le future istituzioni educative della Chiesa.
Autore: Franco Dieghi
SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/61010
Saint Panthène, Apôtre
des Indes : http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/synaxair/juillet/pantene.pdf
Mission of Pantaenus in India : https://www.nasrani.net/2007/02/13/saint-bartholomew-mission-in-india/
