See St. Jerom, Catal. Clem. Alex. and Eusebius. Also
Ceillier, t. 2, p. 237.
This learned father and apostolic man flourished in the second age.
He was by birth a Sicilian, by profession a stoic philosopher. For
his eloquence he is styled by St. Clement of Alexandria the Sicilian
Bee. His esteem for virtue led him into an acquaintance with the
Christians, and being charmed with the innocence and sanctity of
their conversation he opened his eyes to the truth. He studied the
holy scriptures under the disciples of the apostles, and his thirst
after sacred learning brought him to Alexandria in Egypt, where the
disciples of St. Mark had instituted a celebrated school of the
Christian doctrine. Pantænus sought not to display his talents in
that great mart of literature and commerce; but his great progress
in sacred learning was after some time discovered, and he was drawn
out of that obscurity in which his humility sought to live buried.
Being placed at the head of the Christian school some time before
the year 179, which was the first of Commodus, by his learning and
excellent manner of teaching he raised its reputation above all the
schools of the philosophers, and the lessons which he read, and which
were gathered from the flowers of the prophets and apostles, conveyed
light and knowledge into the minds of all his hearers, as St. Clement
of Alexandria, his eminent scholar, says of him. The Indians who
traded to Alexandria, entreated him to pay their country a visit, in
order to confute their Brachmans. Hereupon he forsook his school, and
was established by Demetrius, who was made bishop of Alexandria in
189, preacher of the gospel to the Eastern nations. Eusebius tells
us that St. Pantænus found some seeds of the faith already sown in
the Indies, and a book of the gospel of St. Matthew in Hebrew, which
St. Bartholomew had carried thither. He brought it back with him to
Alexandria, whither he returned after he had zealously employed some
years in instructing the Indians in the faith. The public school was
at that time governed by St. Clement, but St. Pantænus continued
to teach in private till in the reign of Caracalla, consequently
before the year 216, he closed a noble and excellent life by a happy
death, as Rufinus writes.[59] His name is inserted in all Western
Martyrologies on the 7th of July.
* * * * *
The beauty of the Christian morality, and the sanctity of its
faithful professors, which by their charms converted this true
philosopher, appear nowhere to greater advantage than when they
are compared with the imperfect and often false virtue of the most
famous sages of the heathen world.[60] Into what contradictions and
gross errors did they fall, even about the divinity itself and the
sovereign good! To how many vices did they give the name of virtues!
How many crimes did they canonize! It is true they showed indeed a
zeal for justice, a contempt of riches and pleasures, moderation
in prosperity, patience in adversities, generosity, courage, and
disinterestedness. But these were rather shadows and phantoms than
real virtues, if they sprang from a principle of vanity and pride, or
were infected with the poison of interestedness or any other vitiated
intention, which they often betrayed, nay, sometimes openly avowed,
and made a subject of their vain boasts.