Saint of the Day – 14 April – St Frontone (2nd or 4th Century) Abbot, Desert Hermit, Miracle-worker. Also known as – Fronto, Frontonio, Frontomi.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Alexandria, St Fronto(ne), an Abbot, whose life was adorned with sanctity and mirales.”
The life of this Saint, probably composed in Latin around the middle of the 7th Century, exists in two versions today, somewhat different in content but both are historically uncertain. However, some aspects are definitely worthy of note.
Frontone retired to a monastic and ascetic life near his hometown (the narrative does not name it but tradition believes it was Alexandria) then, eager to experience the life of a Hermit, he withdrew to a desert region, with some disciples.
Hunger soon became a problem, arousing lively murmurings among the Hermits. Providence, however, moved a rich gentleman to send food on seventy camels which miraculously found Frontone’s community. After finishing his prayer, he used only part of the food, the rest was reloaded onto the camels backs which miraculously returned safely home.
This is the most notable episode; for the rest, the biography is woven with pious exhortations and exaltations of the virtues of the holy Abbot. In the text however, there is a very precise chronological statement:
“These things were done under the Emperor Antoninus, in the thirteenth year of his reign.” (Antoninus died in 161)
Frontone would, therefore, have been a predecessor of the more famous St Anthony Abbot (251-356) in the institution of the eremeticl life.
The oldest text which recalls his name is Latin and he is recorded in the Martyrology of St Jerome on 14 April. How this Saint had a development of cult and legend in the West is not known but references to him were probably passed orally and were put into writing and expanded according to the traditional schemes of contemporary hagiography.
AnaStpaul 