Severus of Ravenna
Severus of Ravenna | |
|---|---|
| File:Saint Severus of Ravenna mosaic - Sant'Apollinare in Classe - Ravenna 2016.jpg St. Severus of Ravenna - mosaic in Sant'Apollinare in Classe | |
| Bishop of Ravenna | |
| Born | Ravenna, Roman Empire |
| Died | circa 348 |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church Orthodox Church |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Major shrine | Pavio/Pavia (original) Erfurt, Germany |
| Feast | 1 February |
| Attributes | Loom, weaver's tools, dove |
| Patronage | Hatters, wool weavers,[1] spinners, policemen, cloth, stocking, and glove makers. |
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
[edit | edit source]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 and 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
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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's 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
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b "Severus von Ravenna", Die Mainzer Heiligen
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- ^ Trzeciak, Frances. Cult of Saints, E05789, University of Oxford
- ^ 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
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