Severus of Avranches was born to a poor peasant family in France. According to historian

Georges Goyau Georges Goyau (31 May 1869 – 25 October 1939) was a French historian and essayist specializing in religious history. Biography Pierre-Louis-Théophile-Georges Goyau was born in Orléans 31 May 1869, and attended the Lycée d'Orléans before mov ...

, Severus was a sixth century shepherd, "...who was perhaps Bishop of Avranches" Goyau, Georges. "Coutances." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 12 December 2021 He was a shepherd in his youth. After joining the priesthood, he rose through the ranks of

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

, priest and later

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

. He became

bishop of Avranches The Roman Catholic Diocese of Coutances (–Avranches) (Latin: ''Dioecesis Constantiensis (–Abrincensis)''; French: ''Diocèse de Coutances (–Avranches)'') is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in France. Its mother church is the Cathe ...

. In his later years, he resigned his

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

and returned to monastic life.

References

External links

Catholic Forum: Severus of Avranches
{{DEFAULTSORT:Severus Of Avranches Bishops of Avranches 7th-century Frankish bishops 7th-century Frankish saints