CONCERNING ST. SEVERUS, MARTYR AT RAVENNA.
Year of Christ 304.
CommentarySeverus, Martyr at Ravenna (St.)
From various authors.
St. Severus, Bishop of Ravenna, whom the Church celebrates on the Kalends of February, is placed by certain Martyrologies on the Kalends of January; St. Severus the Martyr is different from St. Severus the Bishop. the error perhaps arising from the fact that since a St. Severus suffered martyrdom at Ravenna on this day, certain authors confused him with the other who is far more famous and a Bishop. And indeed Maurolycus calls the one honored on the Kalends of January both Bishop and Martyr, as do two manuscript Martyrologies bearing the name of Bede, one from the Professed House of the Society of Jesus at Antwerp, His memory in the Martyrologies, but mostly incorrectly expressed. the other from the Church of St. Lambert at Liege; likewise the manuscript Florarium Sanctorum. The old Cologne Martyrology calls him only a Bishop; certain manuscripts call him Bishop and Confessor. The Martyrology of St. Jerome has the following: "At Ravenna, the deposition of St. Severus with his brothers." And then again on the Kalends of February: "At Ravenna, of Severus the Bishop." These are obscure; especially since "deposition" is scarcely used except for a Confessor. And what does "with his brothers" mean? And then, were there two Severus Bishops of Ravenna who were Confessors, later conflated into one; one of whom succeeded Marcellinus in the time of Pope Caius, and the other Agapitus in the year of Christ 346, during the consulship of Constantius IV and Constans III?
He is honored on January 1. Whatever the case may be regarding that question, there was another Severus, Martyr at Ravenna, whom Philip Ferrarius in his catalogue of the Saints of Italy and in his general catalogue of Saints places on the Kalends of February, and testifies that his office is deferred on account of the solemnity of St. Severus the Confessor. But Jerome Rubeus asserts that he suffered death for Christ on the Kalends of January, in book 2 of the History of Ravenna: "Marcellinus was substituted for Caius," he says, "and Marcellus for Marcellinus. At which time Severus of Ravenna, a different person from the Archbishop, When he suffered. Famous for miracles and the reputation of sanctity. was put to death by the Emperor Maximian Augustus; who was the tenth and last to persecute Christians in the West. For when Maximian learned of the holy man's miracles and the innocence of his life, out of ingrained hatred of Christians, he had him captured, and since he refused to sacrifice to false gods, ordered him killed on the Kalends of January, as we have said: His body is preserved at Orvieto, as Rubeus thinks. his body is now preserved with the greatest devotion at Orbito, which many believe was the ancient Herbanum, and is venerated by the inhabitants." In this passage, in my opinion, Francis Maurolycus, Abbot of Messina, is clearly caught in error, who in his Martyrology writes that this man was a Bishop: and Ferrettus errs far more, who confuses this Severus with the one who was the nephew of Ecclesius the Archbishop.
Ferrarius denies this. Ferrarius says Rubeus is mistaken: for the relics at Orvieto are not of this Severus but of another who is honored on February 15 and October 1. Peter de Natalibus, book 3, chapter 66, conflated the Martyr St. Severus and the Priest St. Severus, the one who is honored on February 15, into one.