Faber (Ficvre, de ea Boderie), Gui, a French theologian, was born at Boderie, Normandy, Aug. 9, 154!. He became secretary of tlie duke of Alencon, and died in 1598. He was a good linguist, and took part in preparing the Antwerp Polyglot, for which he furnished tlie Syriac of the N. T. with a Latin trans- lation. He also composed a Chaldaic and a Syriac Grammar, and a Syro-CIialdaic Lexicon, and edited the works of Severus, patriarch of Alexandria, on baptism and the Eucharist, in Syriac, with a Latin translation, and translated Marsil. Ficinus and other writers into French. — Herzog, Real-EncyUopddie,\y, 313; Hoefer, Nouv. Bicg. Generate, xxx, 342.
Faber, Jacobus (Lefevre Jacques), doctor of the Sorlionne, and grand vicar of Bourges, was born at Coutances, became doctor of the Sorlionne in 1G74, and died at Paris July 1, 1710. He wrote a niunber of pamphlets against the Protestants, as well as against Arnauld, Maimbourg, and Natalis Alexander; and also a defense of the Sorbonne against the Jesuits, for which he was for a time imprisoned in the Bastile. — Feller, Diclionnaire Ilistorique, vii, 79 ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog, Generale, xxx, 343.
Faber, Jacobus Stapulensis (Faive, or Le Fe- vre d'Etaples Jacques), an eminent scholar, one of the most zealous of his age for the revival of ancient learn- ing, was born about 1450 (1455 ?) at Staples, a village of Picardy. He was educated at the LTniversity of Paris, in which he studied mathematics, philosophy, and ."inally theolog}\ He studied Greek with Her- monj'mus of Sparta at Paris. In 1492 he travelled into Italy, and studied Aristotle at Florence, Pome, and Venice ; and on his return to Paris lectured on Aristotle's writings, and translated a number of them
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into Latin. In 1507 he took up his abode in the Ben- edictine abbey of St. Germain des Pres, with Bric^on- nct, the abbot, who was his pupil and intimate friend. Here he remained till 1520, engaged chiefly in Bibli- cal studies, the first published fruit of which was his Pgalteiium Qidntvplex, in five columns, Gullicmn, Ro- mununi, Ilehraicum, Vettts, Conciliatum (Par. 1509, fol). lie wrote also Commentarlus in I'salmos, etc. (Paris, 1515) ; — Commentarius in Eplst. Catholicus (Basil, 1527, fol.): — Commentarius in Quat. Evang. (Meld. 1522): — De Tribiis Magdalenis (Par. 1531). He was suspected of Lutheranism, and the Parliament of Paris was about to proceed against him in 1521 ; but in 1523, Briconnet, now bishop of Meaiix, made him his general vicar, and he removed to Meaux. He was afterwards deprived of his doctors' degree, and compelled to retire to Gui- enne. Before this, at the request of tlie queen of 2va- varre, he had commenced a translation (from the Vul- gate) of the N. T. into French, which appeared in 1523. Tliis work was intended for common readers, and was soon widely scattered. "The effect of the dissemina- tion of this version of the Word of God, which form- ed the basis for the subsequent translation of Pobert Oliretanus, so important in tlie history of the progress of Protestantism in France, was at once visible. The copies were eagerly sought ; the poor received the Gospel gratuitously when tliey could not even pay the small sum demanded, from tiic liljerality of the good bishop. Briijonnet introduced the French Scriptures into the churches of Meaux, where the people listened to the lessons in an intelligible language and were delighted. An autograph letter, recently discovered among the rich treasures of the public library of Ge- neva, from Lefcvre to his absent pupil Farel, pictures to us tlie immediate results of the publication, and the glowing hopes of the reformer. He writes: 'Good God, witli what joy do I exult when I perceive that the grace of the pure knowledge of Christ has alreadj' spread over a good part of Europe ; and I hope that Christ is at length about to visit our France with this benediction. You can scarcely imagine w itli what ar- dor God is moving the minds of the simple in some places to embrace his Word since the books of the New Testament have been published in French; but you will justly lament that thej' have not been more wide- \y scattered among the people. Some enemies have endeavored, under cover of the authority of the Par- liament, to hinder the work ; but our most generous king has become in this matter the defender of the cause of Christ, declaring it to be his will that his king- dom shall hear the word of God without impediment in that tongue which it understands. Kow tlirough- out our entire diocese, on feast-days and especialh' on Sunday, lioth the Epistle and the Gospel are read to the people in their native tongue, and the parish priest adds a word of exhortation to tlie Epistle or Gospel, or both at his own discretion' (Letter of Lefevre, dated Meaux, July 0, 1524, in the Bulletin de la Societe de VHhtoire du Protestantisme Frant^aig, t. xi [18G2], p. 212, 213)," cited by Baird, Methodist Quarterly Review, 1864, p. 442.
Faber was not fitted for the strife and storm of the times, and to secure quiet, he lived for several years as librarian to the palace at Blois, where he prepared a French translation (from the Vulgate) of the 0. T., which appeared in Antwerp in 1528 (4 vols. 8vo). All his affinities, both from study and friendship, being with the Keformation, his last years were embittered by the persecutions suffered by iiis friends, thfiugh he never left the Itoman Church. But he " well deserved the name of the forerunner of the Reformation ; for in 1512, five j'ears before Luther posted his theses on the doors of the cathedral at AVitteml)erg, he published his Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul, which clearly proclaimed the insufficiency of works, and tlie neces- sity of faith, as the ground of justification for the sin- ner. An affecting incident is told of his last hours.