Probatus

Probatus (Latin: Provato) was the Abbot of Farfa from 770 until 781, and the first abbot native to the Sabina. He steered the abbey through the fall of the Kingdom of the Lombards, trying to prevent the disastrous aggression of its last king, and kept it from falling under the jurisdiction of either the Papacy or the Papal States. With the benefit of his local connections he oversaw a great expansion of the abbey's properties through grants and purchases, and also rationalised its holdings to create a robust base for an early medieval monastic community.

According to the Libellus constructionis Farfensis, a late ninth-century source, Probatus was "born in the Sabine province" and "fully educated from childhood in the chant of the holy Roman Church", that is, the Old Roman chant. He was a deacon of Farfa in 769, when Abbot Alan died and was replaced by his chosen successor, Guicpert. The latter's abbacy was opposed by the monks, who petitioned King Desiderius to intervene. The king expelled the interloper and confirmed the abbey's right to elect its abbots. In late February or early March 770 the community chose one of their own: Probatus.

Probatus' familiarity with local politics made him a superior choice compared with the foreigners who had served as Farfa's abbots prior. He immediately attracted royal patronage: by 772 the abbey had received three curtes (some type of house) and one monasteria (a church with a monastic community) that had previously belonged to Queen Ansa, a gift to her from her son, Adelchis. Probatus also succeeded in attracting private donors (that is, not the Dukes of Spoleto). During his tenure Farfa secured thirty donations, more than three-quarters of which were gifts outright. He also received from private citizens one confirmatio (confirmation of a prior acquisition) and one promissio (promise of a future donation in land), and increased Farfa's lands by purchasing private property on one occasion and exchanging it on four others to rationalise the abbey's holdings. In 772 Desiderius, who had up to that point been acting as Duke of Spoleto, bestowed that office on Theodicius, who proceeded to make a grant to Farfa.

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