Saint Severus of Ravenna was a 4th-century

Bishop of Ravenna This page is a list of Catholic bishops and archbishops of Ravenna and, from 1947 of the Archdiocese of Ravenna and Cervia, which in 1985 became styled the Archdiocese of Ravenna-Cervia.Council of Sardica The Council of Serdica, or Synod of Serdica (also Sardica located in modern-day Sofia, Bulgaria), was a synod convened in 343 at Serdica in the civil diocese of Dacia, by Emperors Constans I, Augustus in the West, and Constantius II, Augustus in ...

in 343. He was ordained as a bishop due to his personal

virtue A virtue () is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be morality, moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is Value (ethics), valued as an Telos, end purpos ...

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. When he became bishop, his wife and daughter, Innocentia, took the veil. He attended the

Council of Sardica The Council of Serdica, or Synod of Serdica (also Sardica located in modern-day Sofia, Bulgaria), was a synod convened in 343 at Serdica in the civil diocese of Dacia, by Emperors Constans I, Augustus in the West, and Constantius II, Augustus in ...

in 343. He was buried in Classe near Ravenna.

Veneration

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

Andreas Agnellus Andreas Agnellus of Ravenna (/799 – after 846) was a historian of the bishops in his city. The date of his death is not recorded, although his history mentions the death of archbishop George of Ravenna in 846; Oswald Holder-Egger cites a papyrus ...

, 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. 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. In 836 Bishop

Otgar of Mainz Otgar (died 21 April 847), also spelled Odgar, Otker or Otger, Latin Otgarius, was the archbishop of Mainz from 826 until his death. Life In 834, Archbishop Otgar made a pilgrimage to the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. Upon his return he brough ...

acquired the relics and transferred them to first to

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

, Germany, and eventually to a predecessor building of

St Severus' Church, Erfurt St Severus' Church () in the city of Erfurt in Thuringia, Germany, is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church (building), church building. It stands on the ''Domberg'' (Cathedral Hill) directly next to Erfurt Cathedral, St Mary's Cathedral. ...

, where they were buried and still lie today. Severus is depicted in

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

's mosaics in Saint Apollinaire in Classis, and his name is recorded in early

martyrologies A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by na ...

. There is a Saint Severus Parish Church in

Boppard Boppard (), formerly also spelled Boppart, is a town and municipality (since the 1976 inclusion of 9 neighbouring villages, ''Ortsbezirken'') in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UN ...

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

References

Year of birth unknown 340s deaths 4th-century Italian bishops Italian saints People from Ravenna Bishops of Ravenna Christian clerical marriage {{saint-stub