Severus

CONCERNING ST. SEVERUS, PRIEST, IN VALERIA AMONG THE ITALIANS.

ABOUT THE YEAR OF CHRIST 530.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Severus, Priest, in Valeria among the Italians (Saint)

I. B.

[1] The Via Valeria was once a famous road which, as Strabo writes in book 5, beginning at Tibur (or where the Via Tiburtina ended), led into the territory of the Marsi and to Corfinium, the chief city of the Paeligni. The region spread widely around it, St. Severus, Priest in a valley of the province of Valeria, which in the time of the Goths received its name from it, Valeria -- or, as some prefer, from the adjacent city of Valeria, which is elsewhere called Varia. In Valeria were the cities of Tibur, Reate, Amiternum, and others, as we said on January 23, from Paul the Deacon, in connection with the Life of St. Martyrius. Between Reate and Amiternum, not far from the Aquae Cutiliae, there was a place which Strabo calls Interocrea, a village, and which in the Roman Itineraries is called Interocrium, and it appears to have been a city of no small size when those itineraries were written; now it is said to be called Interdoio, or Anterdoio.

[2] From Interocrium the valley seems to have taken the name Interocrina, in which St. Severus the Priest lived, Called Interocrina, praised by St. Gregory in book 1 of the Dialogues, chapter 12. Although Gregory himself seems to call it by another name: "In that same place," he says, "that is, in the parts of the province of Valeria," as he has in chapter 10 near the end, "there is a valley called Interocrina, which is called by many in rustic speech Interocrina." Our manuscript, instead of Interorina, has Interurina. Brower in his Annals of Trier reads Terrorina. Pope St. Zacharias, or whoever translated the Dialogues of St. Gregory into Greek, says the valley was called "locally" -- that is, commonly by the inhabitants, or in the manner of that region -- "Interocrina." But the Greek translator seems to place it in Etruria, or to locate the Etrurian city of Todi in Valeria. For previously, in chapter 10, he had correctly expressed the sense of St. Gregory: "Again with pleasure, Peter, I bring back the narrative of my discourse to the regions of the land of Valeria." Where the words of St. Gregory are: "But it pleases me, Peter, still to bring back the words of my narrative to the parts of the province of Valeria." Here, however, the Greek translator has: "In the same parts of the city of Todi, in a certain valley between two mountains, called in the local language Interocrina, there is a church of Our Lady, the holy Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary." Perhaps the translator was misled because in that chapter 10, St. Gregory had narrated many things about St. Fortunatus, Bishop of Todi, and at the end of the chapter says: "Concerning these things, it happened that I heard very remarkable miracles from the mouth of the venerable Fortunatus, whom I mentioned far above; who, coming to me frequently even to this day, while he narrates to me the deeds of the ancients, satisfies me with new refreshment." But this is a different person from St. Fortunatus, Bishop of Todi -- namely, the Abbot of the monastery called Balneum Ciceronis, as the same Gregory writes in the same book, chapter 4, where he says that he was intimately known to St. Equitius in the parts of the province of Valeria.

[3] Now St. Severus, who served in that valley as Priest and (as I believe) parish priest, He is venerated on February 15, has his name inscribed in the Martyrologies at the fifteenth day before the Kalends of March. The manuscript of the Carmelites of Cologne and Francis Maurolycus have: "And of the blessed Severus the Priest." The manuscript of the Most Serene Queen of Sweden: "In the province of Valeria, of St. Severus the Priest, of whom the blessed Gregory writes." The Roman Martyrology, enlarged by Cardinal Baronius, treats of him more fully: "In the province of Valeria, of St. Severus the Priest, of whom the blessed Gregory writes that he recalled a dead man to life with his copious tears."

[4] On the Kalends of February, these words are read in the most ancient manuscript Roman Martyrology bearing the name of St. Jerome: And on February 1, "Likewise of St. Severus the Confessor." The Saints of most recent memory whom we find in that Martyrology, as far as I can recall, are Avitus, Bishop of Vienne, and Brigid the Virgin, of whom the former seems to have died in the year of Christ 524, the latter in 523. There is no reason why Severus cannot be thought to have lived at the same time, concerning whom the venerable Abbot Fortunatus was narrating to Pope St. Gregory nearly seventy years later. When did he live? I would not, however, wish to assert positively that Gregory and the writer of that ancient Martyrology are speaking of the same Severus. On the same day, Hermann Greven, in the supplement to Usuard published about 140 years ago, and our Peter Canisius in the German Martyrology, inscribed him thus: "Of Severus, Priest and Confessor, of whom Gregory narrates in Dialogue 1 that, having been summoned to a sick man and having delayed a little because of the work of pruning his vineyard, when the man had died, he recalled him to life with the bitterest weeping. Others, however, place him on the fifteenth before the Kalends of March."

[5] Peter de Natalibus, in book 3, chapter 6, conflates two Severi into one: the Martyr of Ravenna, whom we said on the Kalends of January won his laurel (according to Rubeus), In Equilinus, considered the same as the Ravenna Martyr: and this Priest of Interocrium, and perhaps a third who is venerated at Orvieto. Peter thus writes: "Severus, a Priest and Martyr, born and raised at Ravenna, fearing God from infancy, began to shine with miracles; among which he gave sight to Eutitius, a decrepit old man of 104 years who had been deprived of his vision. Coming to the city of Rome while still a young man, he built a church in the Interocrine valley in honor of the Mother of God, in which, having been ordained Priest, he served God devoutly for many years and diligently ministered to the poor. When, however, a certain head of a household..." So far Gregory, Dialogue 1, last chapter. "After this, the Emperor Maximian, hearing the fame of Severus, had him arrested; and when he refused to sacrifice, ordered him to be beheaded in the aforesaid valley. His soul was seen to be carried to heaven by two Angels in the form of doves. His body was laid to rest at Orvieto." He adds that he suffered on the Kalends of February. Rubeus writes that the body of St. Severus the Martyr is preserved at Orvieto, or Herbanum; Ferrari says of the Interocrine Priest, and cites manuscript codices of the Church of Orvieto.

[6] Concerning the Severus who is venerated on October 1, the Roman Martyrology has: He is venerated at Orvieto on October 1. "At Orvieto, of St. Severus, Priest and Confessor." Galesinius has the same. Galesinius himself and Baronius cite ancient records of that Church in their annotations. But Maurolycus indicates that this is our Severus: "At Orvieto," he says, "of St. Severus the Priest, of whom Gregory writes." Ferrari asserts the same, believing his birthday to be celebrated on February 15, and that on the Kalends of October a Translation or other feast is observed. He adds, however: "The Tables of Trier testify that the body is at Trier, although the report is that it is preserved at Orvieto." The opinion of those who maintain that it is at Orvieto rests upon report alone. But when was it brought there? If indeed he is the same: On the Kalends of October, says Ferrari. By what means? Placed on a cart yoked to two untamed heifers. Why was this plan adopted? Because of a controversy that arose among the inhabitants as to where he should be buried. Is it then credible that those untamed heifers crept along so slowly that on the not very long road from Interocrium to Herbanum they consumed seven months and more? Or did that controversy last many months, and the body lay unburied for so long? Perhaps the person who supposed that a Severus was brought to Orvieto from elsewhere in Etruria or Umbria -- whether famous for the glory of martyrdom or only of the priesthood -- would not have erred; when afterward, through the many devastations of Italy and sackings of cities, the ancient records were lost, what St. Gregory had written about another Severus was seized upon and the two were believed to be the same. What ancient traditions relate about the body of the Interocrine Severus being carried to Trier and thence to Mayen, we shall set forth below, as by no means inconsistent with credibility. His Life. His Acts, which are of unambiguous reliability, are those written by St. Gregory at the place cited. To these we shall append what Ferrari produces on October 1 and February 15 from a codex of Orvieto written on parchment.

LIFE OF ST. SEVERUS

by St. Gregory, book 1 of the Dialogues, chapter 12.

Severus, Priest, in Valeria among the Italians (Saint)

[1] In the same place there is a valley called Interurina, which is called by many in rustic speech Interocrina, in which there was a certain man of a very admirable life named Severus, Priest of the Church of the Blessed Mary, Mother of God and ever-Virgin. St. Severus the Priest, summoned to the field, When a certain head of a household had come to his last day, he sent messengers in haste, begging him to come as quickly as possible and intercede with his prayers for his sins, so that having done penance for his misdeeds, he might depart from the body freed from guilt. It happened, however, that this Priest had been unexpectedly occupied with pruning his vineyard, and said to those who came to him: Go ahead; behold, I shall follow you. And when he saw that a small bit of work remained for him to do, He delays a little: he tarried briefly to finish the work that remained, which was very little. When he had finished, he began to make his way to the sick man. But as he went along the road, those who had first come met him on the way, saying: The man meanwhile having died, Why did you delay, Father? Do not trouble yourself any further, for he is already dead. Hearing this, he trembled, and began to cry out in loud lamentations that he was the man's murderer.

[2] Weeping, then, he came to the body of the dead man and cast himself upon the ground before his bed with tears. And as he wept vehemently and beat his head upon the ground and cried out that he was guilty of the man's death, Praying with tears, suddenly the dead man received back his soul. When the many who stood around saw this, having uttered cries of astonishment, they began to weep even more from joy. And when they asked him where he had been and how he had returned, he said: Very terrible were the men who were leading me, and from whose mouth and nostrils came fire that I could not endure. And as they were leading me through dark places, suddenly a youth of beautiful appearance, together with others, met us as we went, He raises the dead man, snatched from the hands of demons, and said to those who were dragging me: Take him back, for the Priest Severus is weeping; and the Lord has given him to his tears. This Severus then immediately rose from the ground and offered the man the help of his intercession as he did penance; And absolves him, after which the man dies joyfully. and while for seven days the revived sick man did penance for the sins he had committed, on the eighth day he departed the body rejoicing. Consider, I pray, how beloved the Lord regarded this Severus of whom we speak, whom He did not suffer to be grieved even for a moment.

a Namely, in the province of Valeria, as is clear from chapters 10 and 11. St. Zacharias, as we said above, places this valley near Todi.

b So the printed codices read; our manuscript has: "weeps with tears, and the Lord has given him to him." The Greek agrees with the printed editions: "For the Lord gave him to his tears."

c In the Greek there is added: "And having given thanks to God."

d The printed codices here interpose "Peter." This is absent from the Greek and the manuscript.

EPITOME OF THE LIFE

by Philip Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy.

Severus, Priest, in Valeria among the Italians (Saint)

a

Severus the Priest, tracing his origin from the Interocrine valley of the province of Valeria, which is also called the Valley of St. Severus, was entrusted as a boy by his parents to a master to be instructed in letters. St. Severus the Priest Among other virtues with which he was endowed, he cultivated humility and charity above all. Having become a cleric, he advanced through the grades to the priesthood. He was accustomed to frequent the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in that valley He cultivates the fields, out of devotion, and after prayers and other spiritual exercises, lest he grow sluggish in idleness, he would exercise himself in the cultivation of his fields. He sustained the poor, orphans, and widows with his resources and labors, Generous to the poor, not only feeding the hungry but also clothing the naked. So great was his holiness that the sick who could not come to him nevertheless recovered their health if they tasted even a small bit of bread or other food blessed by him... He then describes in his own words Famous for miracles: the miracle we have related from St. Gregory, and then appends the following: "Finally, the holy man, having left behind some disciples of his manner of life, departed this life. His body, The body is said to have been carried to Orvieto. a dispute having arisen about the place of burial, was placed by a rustic who had been warned in a dream upon a cart and carried by untamed heifers, which turned aside nowhere, to Orvieto, where it was honorably laid to rest."

a At October. He has nearly the same on February 15.

b Rather, St. Gregory says he was the Priest of that church -- that is, as I interpret it, the parish priest or curate.

CONCERNING THE TRANSLATION OF ST. SEVERUS

to Mayen in the diocese of Trier.

Severus, Priest, in Valeria among the Italians (Saint)

[1] Now since we said above that the translation of St. Severus's body to Orvieto is not sufficiently proved, at least as a complete body, let us see what is written about its being brought to Trier Whence is the monastery of Mayen so called? and thence to the monastery of Mayen. Mayen is a town on the river Nette, which empties into the Rhine near Andernach, below Koblenz. Brower, in his notes on epistle 12, book 3 of Fortunatus, calls it Magniacum, and the Magniacensian territory, and elsewhere the pagus Meginensis, the district extending thence to the Moselle, of wonderful fertility. In this district, not far from the Moselle, lies the town that is called the Monastery of Mayen, commonly Munster in Mayen, or simply Munster. Arnold of Isenburg was the first to surround it with a wall, It grew into a town, as Kyriander testifies in part 15 of the Annals of Trier, and more elegantly Brower in book 16, at the year 1249, in these words: "Koblenz, not yet furnished in his time with any walls or towers, but open, in the manner of a rural village, to foreigners and inhabitants alike, he surrounded with a rampart and fortifications and enclosed to some extent, the advowson of the same town having been obtained for himself and the Church for seven hundred marks of Cologne currency. The Monastery of Mayen, which was once the proper name of this district, And surrounded with walls: he secured more closely to himself by the advowson, and strengthened it with a mound and rampart and walls extended to some extent." Gabriel Bucelin, in part 2 of his "Sacred Germany," suspects that the Monastery which gave the town its name was one of Virgins. Brower in book 10, as we shall say later, says it was a college of Canons, and that it began from that time to be called the Monastery of St. Severus.

[2] The translation of the relics of this holy Priest to that place is also mentioned in the Martyrologies. The one printed at Cologne in the year 1490 The body of St. Severus was translated there in the tenth century, has the following at February 15: "In the monastery of Mayen, near Koblenz, of St. Severus, Priest and Confessor, of whom the blessed Pope Gregory writes in his Dialogue." Hermann Greven, a Carthusian of Cologne, in his additions to Usuard published in the year 1515: "In the monastery of Mayen, near Koblenz, of St. Severus, Priest and Confessor, who is also placed above on the Kalends of February." Our Peter Canisius in the German Martyrology: "In the monastery of Mayen, near Koblenz, of the holy Priest and Confessor Severus, of whom St. Gregory writes. He is also placed on the first of this month. His body was translated from Italy by Robert, Bishop of Trier." Doctor Molanus in the supplement to Usuard: "On the same day, of the blessed Severus, Priest and Confessor, whom the blessed Gregory mentions in his book of Dialogues. His body was brought from Italy by Ropert, Bishop of Trier." More briefly, the manuscript Florarium: "At Trier, of St. Severus, Priest and Confessor."

[3] The memory of his Translation seems to be observed on June 30, on which day it perhaps occurred. On that day, at least, the old Martyrology printed at Cologne in the year 1490 June 30, has: "In the monastery of Mayen, the Translation of St. Severus, Priest and Confessor." Greven and Canisius have the same, but the latter adds "brought from Italy." The manuscript Florarium: "Likewise, the Translation of St. Severus, Bishop and Confessor." But this seems to refer to some other Severus, for in its Index it has: "Of Severus, Bishop and Confessor, November 18. His Translation, June 30."

[4] The translation of St. Severus, which is attributed in the cited Martyrologies to Archbishop Robert (or Ruotbert, or Rupert), is elsewhere attributed to St. Egbert, who governed the Church of Trier as the fourth after him. In the Life of the latter, these words are found: "This Archbishop Egbert and Theoderic, Bishop of Metz, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 970, being established in Italy for three years with the great and most glorious Emperor Otto Augustus, whose wife was the daughter of Theophanes, Brought by St. Egbert, Bishop of Trier, with other relics from Italy, King of the Greeks, collected many bodies of the Saints, which they transmitted to their Sees. Egbert obtained St. Severus the Priest, buried in the Tarentine valley, whom St. Gregory mentions in his book of Dialogues, with the help of King Otto. He also obtained in the city of Spoleto the bones of Gregory the Martyr, and the head of Pontian the Martyr, and relics of Felix and Regula. The Bishop of Corfinium gave to Theoderic, Bishop of Metz, the body of St. Lucy the Virgin, testifying with his hand placed upon the Gospel that this was indeed the Syracusan, of whom the Responsories and Antiphons with the Mass are sung everywhere; half of which the same Theoderic gave to Egbert, the Archbishop, who asked most devoutly." The same is found in the Belgian Chronicle of John Gerbrand of Leiden, book 8, chapter 2, but what is here called the Tarentine valley he writes as Tarontine, and in the margin as Tridentine -- but this may have been added by Francis Swertius, who edited the work. These seem to be taken from the Deeds of the Treverians, composed before the year 1300, where they are found in the same words, together with certain other details those authors omitted -- such as the detail about St. Lucy, who was translated there by a certain Duke Forald (he meant to write Foroald) of Spoleto. In the same passage, Egbert is said to have obtained Severus in the Terientine valley, and the relics of Felix and Regula in the fortress of Zurich.

[5] Although Sigebert of Gembloux, who lived for many years at Metz in the monastery of St. Vincent which Theoderic had built, testifies that in that year Theoderic of Metz was in Italy and brought many relics of the Saints to Gaul, he makes no mention of Egbert. And indeed this conflicts with the chronology that Brower follows in the Annals of Trier, where he writes that St. Egbert was made Archbishop only in the year 978. He could, however, have obtained part of those relics from Theoderic while he was still alive, and brought others from Italy himself. For since it is said that Otto, Whom he had followed, Otto II, to Italy, by whose favor the body of St. Severus was obtained, had as wife the daughter of Theophanes, King of the Greeks, it is manifest that the reference is to Otto II, to whom Theophano, or Theophania, the daughter of the Emperor Constantine, was married in the year 972 through the agency of the Emperor John Tzimisces. This Otto II went to Italy again in the year 980, whom Egbert perhaps accompanied at that time.

[6] Let us hear Christopher Brower weighing these matters carefully in book 10 of his Annals, page 600: "Having set out for Italy," he says, "Egbert brought back to Trier Henry, Bishop of Trier, recently buried at Parma; and lest he return unaccompanied, he added relics of the blessed heavenly citizens, sought with great zeal from all sides. And thus they relate that, by the authority of the Emperor Otto, he obtained Severus the Priest, whom the blessed Gregory praises in his Dialogues, from the Terrorine valley of the province of Valeria, and the bodies of the Martyrs Felix and Regula, which rested in the village of Zurich, in the illustrious convent of nuns founded by King Louis of Germany, grandson of Charlemagne. And brought to Mayen, The body of the blessed Severus, Egbert (though some attribute this to Ruotbert, perhaps indicating a different translation) transferred not without the glory of miracles to the very ancient basilica sacred to St. Martin in the pagus of Megina, which we read that Pepin the Elder had honored with a community of clergy. And from the accession of the body of so distinguished a Patron, the college of Canons of Mayen began to be called the Monastery of St. Severus. This monastery, thereafter growing by the frequency of buildings into the form of a small town, Where thereafter there was frequent pilgrimage: the following age frequented with such great concourse on account of health and the most faithful patronage of those flocking to the place, that from the remotest parts of Aquitaine the sick hastened there in great numbers and were made to achieve their prayers, by the by no means doubtful experience of restored health."

[7] So writes Brower in that passage. The same author, earlier in book 9, page 563, seems inclined to the view that the body of Severus was brought from Italy by Ruotbert and afterward taken to Mayen by Egbert. "Nor would I charge with vanity," he says, "certain documents of the collegiate church of the town of Mayen, which record that St. Severus the Priest, Or brought from Italy by Bishop Robert under Otto I, the local Patron and Protector, was first brought to Trier from Italy and the province of Valeria by Ruotbert; though we may also concede a share of the glory to Egbert. For in the Acts of the Translation, an old writer says that Ruotbert found the body of St. Severus in the Terrorine valley, where some member of the clergy was maintaining a church of the Mother of God."

[8] What he then adds I would attribute to Egbert: namely, that it pleased the Bishop, after some years had passed, that the monastery of Blessed Martin, situated in Mayen, Translated to Mayen by St. Egbert, should be dedicated to the patronage of St. Severus. Accordingly, the sacred relic was placed on a ship; but when a storm or tempest arose and the rowers could not propel it even with oars, having been at last left to the waves and winds, it began to glide forward of its own accord until it put in at the bank beside which the Moselle village of Condeda lies; [The ship having landed of its own accord at that place, and other miracles following.] where, because the clergy had set down their sacred burden during the night watches, there arose a memorial of the Saint which also continued through the subsequent ages. "And I have found in certain records of the times, though not the most reliable, that the body of St. Severus, translated under Ruotbert, was by a similar miracle brought to the village which, below Caradunum, was then called the port of Hatto; and thence it was received by the clergy of the monastery of the pagus of Megina and laid to rest in the old basilica." So far Brower. The anniversaries of the Saints mentioned are observed on these days: St. Pontian on January 14, Felix and Regula on September 11, Egbert on December 9, Lucy on the thirteenth, and Gregory of Spoleto on the twenty-fourth of the same month.

* Perhaps Egbert.

* Now commonly called Hatzeport.