Saint Severus ( it, San Severo di Napoli) (died 409) was a
bishop of Naples during the 4th and 5th centuries. He is considered the twelfth bishop of Naples, succeeding
Maximus
Maximus (Hellenised as Maximos) is the Latin term for "greatest" or "largest". In this connection it may refer to:
* Circus Maximus (disambiguation)
* Pontifex maximus, the highest priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome
People Roman h ...
. His episcopate ran from February 363 to April 29, 409, the traditional date of his death.
Maximus is actually considered the 10th bishop by the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
; between the episcopates of Maximus and Severus was the episcopate of Zosimus, who was
Arian and thus considered
heretical
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
by the Catholic Church.
Severus was a friend of
Saint Ambrose, whom he met at council at
Capua
Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain.
History
Ancient era
The name of Capua comes from the Etrus ...
in 392.
To Severus is attributed the construction of the Battistero di San Giovanni in Fonte, associated with the basilica of
Santa Restituta
Santa Restituta is a church in Naples, southern Italy, dedicated to Saint Restituta. The foundation of the basilica is attributed to the Emperor Constantine the Great in the 4th century and is mentioned in a passage from the life of Pope Sylves ...
.
Severus also built outside of the city walls the Basilica of San Fortunato, to which he
translated
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
the relics of his predecessor Maximus.
To Severus is also attributed the first translation of the body of
St. Januarius from
Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula.
History
Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia'' ( el, Δικα ...
to Naples, which occurred in 367.
According to an early
hagiography, Januarius' relics were transferred by order of Severus to the
Neapolitan catacombs ''
extra moenia
Extra moenia (also: extra muros) is a Latin phrase that means ''outside the walls'' or ''outside the walls of the city''.
The phrase is commonly used in reference to the original attributes of a building, usually a church, which was built outside ...
''.
Veneration
His relics were translated from the ''Battistero di Napoli'' to the district known as Rione Sanità in the 9th century, to what became known as the
Catacombs of San Severo.
In 1310, Archbishop
Umberto d’Ormont (Uberto d'Ormont), who had served as abbot of the Basilica of San Severo, placed Severus' relics in the main altar of San Severo, and had built a marble
ciborium, which has been attributed to
Tino da Camaino.
The Marble Calendar of Naples, sculpted in the ninth century and preserved in the
Cathedral of Naples, lists Severus under the feast day of April 29 –the date that appears in the Roman Martyrology.
A legendary ''Vita'', written in the eleventh century, states that Severus brought a dead man back to life after the man's widow and children had been left destitute.
The facts
[Quoted in ] are these: a man of Naples one day went to a
bathing establishment and forgot to take with him the usual fee for the proprietor: an egg (Sabine Baring-Gould writes:'' “Or perhaps a piece of money which from its form may have been commonly called an egg, or ''ovum''.”'').
The man promised to pay the bath-keeper back. Unfortunately, he died a few days later and the bath-keeper then demanded from the widow a large amount of money that he pretended the deceased man had owed him. A judge ordered that the woman and her children be sold into slavery since she could not pay. The widow appealed to Saint Severus for assistance. Severus declared, “The dead man himself shall give evidence.” The town was gathered together at the man's tomb and Severus asked the dead man to answer truthfully about how much he owed the bath-keeper. The corpse opened his eyes, and stood up, and said “I owe but one egg.” Then he fell back again. The crowd immediately attacked the bath-keeper, but Severus protected the man from further harm.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Severus Of Naples
Bishops of Naples
4th-century Italian bishops
5th-century Italian bishops
409 deaths
5th-century Christian saints
Year of birth unknown