Ruffo, Dionigi Fabrizio, an Italian cardinal and general, was born at Naples (or Calabria) about 1744. He raised in Calabria the Army of the Holy Faith, a large body of royalists which, under his com- mand, expelled the French and the republicans from the country in 1799 and restored king Ferdinand IV to the throne. A number of republican chiefs taken by him at Naples, as prisoners of war, were put to death by order of the king. He died in 1827.
Ruffo, Luigi, cardinal and archbishop of Naples, was born at San Onofrio, Calabria, Aug. 25, 1750. He was made cardinal -priest, and in 1801 archbishop of Naples. On the accession of Joseph Bonaparte to the throne, Ruffo was exiled, and remained in Rome till 1815, when he was allowed to return to his diocese. Under Ferdinand IV he was director of the university, but was replaced by Rosini, bishop of Pozzuoli. Ruffo died at Rome Nov. 17, 1832. — Hoefer, Noui\ Biog. Generate, s. V.
Rufina, aS'^, a Christian martyr, under Valerian, at Rome. Her suitor, to avoid danger, renounced Chris- tianity, and endeavored to dissuade Rufina from her pro- fession. She remained steadfast, and her suitor, finding her unyielding, informed against her and occasioned her arrest. Although tortured several times, she remained inflexible, and was beheaded A.D. 257.
Rufinus Tyrannius, monk, presbyter, the friend, and later the adversary, of Jerome, was born at Concor- dia, Italy, about A.D. 330. Forty years later he was converted to Christianity at Aquileia and became a monk, in which character he visited the East and be- came acquainted with the monastic institution as found in the Nitrian desert and elsewhere. He witnessed and wrote an account of the persecution under the emperor Valens, though it is not certain that he endured any of the troubles of martyrdom. In 378 he went to Jerusa- lem in company with Mclania, a strict ascetic and friend of Jerome, and was made presbyter by the bishop John of Jerusalem in 390. The breaking-out of the Origen- istic controversy (q. v.) soon afterwards destroyed his friendship with Jerome, the latter taking sides against that father. In 397 Rufinus, again accompanied by Me- lania, who shared his views, journeyed to Rome, where he enjoyed the protection of bishop Siricius; but he was summoned before Anastasius, the succeeding bish- op, to answer for his Origenistic errors. He sent a written defence from Aquileia, but was formallj' con- demned in 399. Subseiiueutly the incursions of the Goths under Alaric compelled him to flee. He died in 410 in Sicily, while on the way to Palestine. The theo- locical importance of Rufinus arises from his having brought the writings of the (Jreeks within the reach of the Western Church. He translated the Church Histo- ry of Eusel)ius in response to the wish of bishop Chro- matins of Afjuileia, though taking rather arbitrary lib- erties with the text (comp. Vales, on P^useb. ; Huetius, J)e Claris Interpretibus, p. 202; Kimmel, I)e Riifino Ens. Interprete [1838]), and continued the history to the reign of Tiieodosius the Great, the continuation being afterwards translated into (ireek. He also wrote a Vita; Patrum A'. Ilistur. Kremitica for bishop Patronius of Cologia, who furnished the material and was long con-
sidered to be the author, though many attributed the work to Jerome instead. Rufinus's translation of Ori- gen was intended to demonstrate the orthodoxy of that father, but was not impartially done, and gave rise to acrimonious disputes with Jerome, against whom he now wrote his two books known as Invectivce. His ex- position of the Apostles' Creed deserves mention also. It was composed at the request of bishop Laurentius, was much esteemed in ancient times, and is still impor- tant to the history of doctrines. Several other works once credited to him are now rejected as spurious. The chief edition of his writings is by Vallarsi (Verona, 1745). The Chinch History was first printed at Basle in 1544, but was afterwards improved by the Carmelite Peter Th. Oacciari, and published in 1740. See Fonta- nini. Hist. lAt. A quileiens ; De Rubeis [F. J. Maria], Afo- nitm. Eccl. A qvil. (Arg. 1740) ; De Rufina. (Ven. 1754) ; Marzunnitti, E. H. de Tyr. Riif. Fide et Religione (Patav. 1835) ; Schrockh, x, 121 sq. : Neander, Ch. Bisf.vo\. i. — Herzog, Real-EncyMop. s. v.
Ru'fus (Lat. for red, Graecized 'Fov<poQ) is mention- ed in Mark xv, 21, along with Alexander, as a son of Simon the Cyreuffian, whom the Jews compelled to bear the cross of Jesus on the waj- to Golgotha (Luke xxiii, 26). A.D. 29. As the evangelist informs his readers who Simon was by naming the sons, it is evident that the latter were better known than the father in the cir- cle of Christians where Mark lived. Again, in Rom. xvi, 13, the apostle Paul salutes a Rufus whom he des- ignates as "elect in the Lord" (tKKtKTov iv Kvpiq)), and whose mother he gracefully recognises as having earned a mother's claim upon himself by acts of kind- ness shown to him. A. D. 55. It is generally supposed that this Rufus was identical with the one to whom IMark refers; and in that case, as Mark wrote his gos- pel in all probabilitj' at Rome, it was natural that he should describe to his readers the father (who, since the mother was at Rome, while he, apparently, was not there, may have died or have come later to that city), from his relationship to two well-known members of the same community. It is some proof at least of the early existence of this view that in the A eta A ndrea> et Petri both Rufus and Alexander appear as companions of Peter in Rome. Assuming, then, that the same per- son is meant in the two passages, we have before us an interesting group of believers — a father (for we can hardljf doubt that Simon became a Christian, if he was not alreadj' such, at the time of the crucifixion), a moth- er, and two brothers, all in the same family. Yet we are to bear in mind that Rufus was not an uncommon name (Wettstein, Nor. Test, i, 634); and possibly, there- fore, IMark and Paul may have had in view different in- dividuals.— Smith. The name is Roman, but the man was probably of Hebrew origin. He is said to have been one of the seventy disciples, and eventually to have had charge of the Church at Thebes.