Fausta, Flavia Maximiana, daughter of tie em- peror Maximianus Ilerculius and Eutropia, was the second wife of Constantine the Great, to wdiom she bore three sons, Constantinus, Constantius, and Con- stans, and two daughters, Constantina and Helena. She was born about A.D. 289, was married in 307, and put to death in 320, if the general opinion in regard to her end be correct. She gained great influence over the mind of her husband by her devotion in revealing to him a plot, formed In' her own father, to assassinate him, though with filial tenderness she covenanted for
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the life of her parent, who was notwithstanding put to ] death. This confidence and affection, as is alleged by ' some, she abused so as to instigate the death of Oris- : pus, Constantine's son by his first wife INIinervina, a youth of rare promise and great popularity, because, as some say, he stood in the way of her own sons, or, according to others, of his refusal to reciprocate her illicit love. Helena, the mother of the emiieror, how- ever, avenged the fate of her grandson, and Fausta, whose i)erlidy and infidelity were made known, was r,ufi'ocated in a hot bath. Other accounts, however, hold Fausta innocent of the death of Crispus, which, together with her own and that of the Ca;sar Licinius, is attributed to the cruel suspiciousness of Constan- tine, engendered by success — that insokntia rerum se- cundarum, as Eutropius styles it, which perverted his nature and led to cleeds of cruelty. The vague and contradictory statements in regard to her conduct, and to the time, cause, and manner of her death, leave the whole matter in doubt. In one account she is made to survive the death of her son Constantino, who was slain three years after his father's death, and in anoth- er is represented as the "most pious of queens." Her conversion to Christianity is also a matter of doubt, though she probably followed her husband in that re- spect.— Hoefer, Noiiv. Biogr. Generale^ s. v. ; Gibbon, Decline and Full, ii, 102-3 (X. Y. Harpers', 1852, 6 vols. 12mo) ; Tillemont, IHst. des Emp. vol. iv, art. Ixii, p. 224, and Xofes svr Consianiin,7i\n; Edihel, Doctrina Kiimmorum, viii, 98 ; Eutropius, x, 6 ; Lactantius, Be Mi,rte Persecut. 27: Julian, Orat. i; Zosinms, ii, 10, 20 ; Philostorgius, Hist. Eccles. ii, 4. (J. W. M.)
Faustinus, bishop of Lyons, lived in the second part of the third century. He became bishop about the year 250, and distinguished himself by his zeal for the faith, and the ardor with which he attacked Mar- cianus, bishop of Aries, the only Gallic bishop who had embraced Novatianism. Unable to accomplish anything by himself, he made sure of the aid of the bishops of the Narbonnaise, and wrote to the pope, Stephen, to obtain the deposition of Marcianus. The pope hesitated, and Paustinus, in order to hasten mat- ters, wrote to Cyprian, bishop of Carthage. The two letters which he wrote no longer exist, but they form the material of the sixty-seventh letter of Cyprian to pope Stephen, which gives a curious picture of the Gallic Church at that period. Marcianus persisted in his schism, and the result of the affair is uncertain, but it is probable that he was deposed, since his name is not found in the list of the bishops of Aries. — Hoe- fer, Nouv. Biog. Gmerale, xvii, 199.
Fanstinus, a priest of the sect of the Luciferians (q. v.) in the fourth century. He shared in tlie ])erse- cution they experienced, but was set free by the inter- vention of the emperor Theodosius, to whom he pre- sented a petition praying for protection to be extended to himself and others who associated with him ; this the emperor granted, and Damasus's papal persecutions were stayed. He wrote a treatise, De Trinitate sive de Fide contra Ariuncs (Concerning the Faith, against the Arians). The discourse is dedicated to the empress Flacilhi, and divided into seven chapters. He begins by stating the heresies of the Arians, and then combats them from Scripture. In chap, ii he proves that the word Son belongs to our Saviour, hut leaves untouch- ed the question whether the word applies to him as God or vian, taking for granted the former; in chap, iii he shows the omnijiotence and ])erpetual endurance of Christ; explains in chap, iv, John xiv, 28; in chap. V, the qualifications implied in Acts ii, 36 are pointed out as belonging only to God ; and chap, vii is a short dissertation on the Holy Spirit. He wrote also Fides Theodoxio imp. ohlata (accordipg to IMabillon, about A.D. 380) : — Lihellits Frecnm, a i)etition addressed to the emijerors Valentinian and Tlieodosius, relating and requesting to be freed from the persecutions which he.
Marcellinus, and others were suffering in consequence of being Luciferians. A short account of this sect is prefixed by Faustinus to the petition. His remains will be found in Galland, Bib. Max. Pair. xn.AAl, and in Migne, Patrol. Cursus, xiii, 38 sq. — Clarke, Success. Sac. Lit. ; Lardner, Wm-ks, iv, 250.
Fanstinus, who lived towards the close of the sixth century after Christ, was appointed l)ishop of Dax, France, by authority' of Gondowald, who, claim- ing to be a natural sou of Clothaire I, aspired to the throne of Aquitaine, but was vanquished, betraj'ed, and slain. B'austinus was then deposed bj- a council held at Macon, which, curiously enough, also con- demned the bishops who had ordained him to provide for him in turn, and pay him 100 solidi annually. — Gregory of Tours, Epitome historice Francontm ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gin. (J. W. M.)