Roger of San Severino (died December 1221)W. Maleczek, ''Papst und Kardinalskolleg von 1191 bis 1216'', (Vienna 1984), 68. was the

Archbishop of Benevento The Archdiocese of Benevento () is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church. It currently has five suffragan dioceses: the diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia, the diocese of Avellino, the diocese of Cerreto Sannita-Telese-Sant'Agata de' Goti ...

from 1179 until his death. He was probably a younger brother of Count William of San Severino, the most powerful lord in the

Cilento Cilento () is an Italian mountain range (part of the Lucan Apennines), which gives its name to a geographical region of Campania in the central and southern part of the province of Salerno. Is an important tourist area of southern Italy. ...

and a royal

justiciar Justiciar is the English form of the medieval Latin term or (meaning "judge" or "justice"). The Chief Justiciar was the king's chief minister, roughly equivalent to a modern Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Justiciar of Ireland was ...

. He may also have been a cousin of Count

Robert of Caserta Robert of Lauro (died 1183) was the Count of Caserta, a powerful nobleman and administrator in the Kingdom of Sicily, "effectively the king's viceroy on the mainland" between 1171 and his death. He was a close colleague of Count Tancred of Lecce, th ...

. He was a monk at

Montecassino The Abbey of Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a Catholic, Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley. Located on the site of the ancient Roman town of Casinum, it is the first house ...

before becoming bishop at a young age. His high aristocratic lineage and monastic vows were both unusual for bishops of southern Italy at the time. He was appointed archbishop of Benevento and

cardinal-priest A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. ...

Sant'Eusebio Sant'Eusebio is a titular church in Rome, devoted to Saint Eusebius of Rome, a 4th-century martyr, and built in the Esquilino rione. One of the oldest churches in Rome, it is a titular church and the station church for the Friday after the f ...

Pope Alexander III Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland (), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a Papal election, ...

. In June 1180 Roger and five of his twenty-two

suffragans A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led by ...

and two other bishops visited Montecassino, where they issued an

indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission bef ...

for one year's penance to visitors of the abbey and one year and forty days' penance to visitors on Saint Benedict's day. In 1182, when Roger dedicated the abbey church of

Montevergine 250px, The Sanctuary of Montevergine. The Montevergine, also known as Partenio or Monti di Avella, is a limestone massif in Campania, central Italy, part of the Apennine chain. It is located near Avellino, in the ''comune'' of Mercogliano. It ...

, he was accompanied by nine of his suffragans. In 1199 Roger's own canons brought charges against him before

Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III (; born Lotario dei Conti di Segni; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most power ...

, who sent a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

and the

archbishop of Naples The Archdiocese of Naples () is a Latin Catholic archdiocese in southern Italy, the see being in Naples. A Christian community was founded there in the 1st century AD and the diocese of Naples was raised to the level of an Archdiocese in the 10 ...

to investigate. Among the charges was that Roger had encouraged the citizens of Benevento to destroy the castle (''castellum'') of a neighbouring baron with whom they were in dispute. Therefore, the canons alleged, Roger was "a participant in, and master of, civil war".Oldfield (2009), 233.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roger (archbishop of Benevento) 1221 deaths 12th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops 13th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops 13th-century Italian cardinals Year of birth unknown

See also

Notes