Saint Severus of Ravenna was a 4th-century Bishop of Ravenna who attended the Council of Sardica in 343. He was ordained as a bishop due to his personal virtue and because of "the sign of a dove". He is commemorated on February 1.

Life

According to legend, Severus, a wool weaver, went with his wife, Vincentia, to observe the election of a successor to Bishop Agapitus for Ravenna. When he arrived at the church a white dove landed three times on his shoulders, so the people took this as a sign elected him.[2] When he became bishop, his wife and daughter, Innocentia, took the veil.

He attended the Council of Sardica in 343.[2]

He was buried in Classe near Ravenna.[2]

Veneration

Sarcophagus of St. Severus, St Severus' Church, Erfurt

He was purported to be an example of not only a married priest, but a married archbishop.[3]

Andreas Agnellus, in his Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis, mentions the founding of a church dedicated to Severus at Classe and the later translation of his relics from a nearby monasterium dedicated to Rophilius, which appears to have taken place around the year 500.[4]

On the feast of Pentecost 582, Archbishop John II "Romanus" consecrated the Basilica of San Severo in Ravenna-Classe at his burial place and in his honor - it was destroyed in 1820 (and excavated from 1964 to 1967).

A Gallic priest named Felix stole Severus' bones together with those of his wife Vincentia and daughter Innocentia and brought them to Pavia.[1] In 836 Bishop Otgar of Mainz acquired the relics and transferred them to first to Mainz, Germany, and eventually to a predecessor building of St Severus' Church, Erfurt, where they were buried and still lie today.[5][6] Severus is depicted in Justinian's mosaics in Saint Apollinaire in Classis, and his name is recorded in early martyrologies.[3]

There is a Saint Severus Parish Church in Boppard, Germany.

A different St. Severus was martyred in Ravenna during the reign of Maximian, and some early records confused him with the bishop.

References

  1. ^ a b "Severus von Ravenna", Die Mainzer Heiligen
  2. ^ a b c "Severus von Ravenna". Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon (in German). Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  3. ^ a b Berman, Constance H. (2005). Medieval religion new approaches. Routledge. p. 127. OCLC 1267427298.
  4. ^ Trzeciak, Frances. Cult of Saints, E05789, University of Oxford
  5. ^ Oppermann, Johann M., Der heilige Severus von Ravenna, Patron der Stiftskirche zu Erfurt: sein Leben, die Geschichte seiner Reliquien, sowie seine Verehrung in Lied und Gebet, Schöningh, 1878
  6. ^ "Saint Severus of Ravenna". CatholicSaints.Info. 31 January 2010.