a saint of the early Christian Church, whose personal history is enshrouded in mystery by legends and traditions, was born, according to Jerome, in the second half of the 3d century. He early lost his rich Christian parents, and during the Dacian persecutions fled into the Theban wilderness, where he lived for ninety-seven years in communion with his God, to be seen only by man in his dying hours, when the anchorite Antonius found him.