The (Medieval Texts in Translation) book of pontiffs of the Church of Ravenna

Severus

ty to strangers, he eagerly bestowed gifts upon paupers, and daily offered up goodness in the temple of his body, daily offered up his soul, like the host, at the altar of his heart, in the presence of the almighty Lord. Later the divine command came to him, and his holy soul was released from the flesh. He was buried, as [some] suspect, with the others named above. He sat __ years, __ months, __ days. CONCERNING HOLY MARCELLINUS . Marcellinus, the tenth bishop, just and God-fearing, he destroyed the camps of demons by his prayers and diligently guarded the sheep that had been bestowed upon him by the Lord, so that that monstrous wolf, which daily rants and raves against them, should not be able to tear them to pieces outside his church and carry off prey from among his sheep; so that it might not devour in its bestial maw the souls of Christians which the holy man had acquired for Almighty God, nor deliver them to the power of hell with its infernal chains binding them. And when the course of many years was run, he let slip the pontificate and his life; his body emitted such fragrant odors that the noses of those burying him seemed to smell incense of precious myrrh.1 He was buried, as some allow, in the basilica of blessed Probus. He sat __ years, __ months, __ days. CONCERNING HOLY SEVERUS, C. 340’S . Severus, the eleventh bishop,1 whose name in its formation means “true fierce.” This does not pertain to savagery, but to   . The miraculous preservation and odor of saintly bodies is a common topos in hagiography; compare, for example, Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum . and Gloria martyrum , and LPR, c. , below. z . “Severus ab Italia de Ravennensi” is listed as having been present at the Council of Sardica of  (Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum , col. ); Severus is thus the first strength: “fierce,” that is, “strong,” “true” high priest. His priesthood was so predestined by Almighty God, that in his election the holy spirit was sent in the form of a dove, which the whole people saw corporeally with their eyes, and it rested on his head. From this event a proverb concerning him is said up to today by some people, “Blessed be that land, where in the election of a bishop the holy spirit descended in the likeness of a dove, and the one on whose head it rested was ordained.”2 But woe unto you,3 unhappy Ravenna, neighbor of destroyed Classe, since now a bishop is ordained in your city with great strife and controversy. . While this blessed above-named Severus was celebrating mass, when his deacon had ascended into the pulpit and was reading the letters of the blessed apostle Paul, so that the assembly of the people might be refreshed with spiritual words, suddenly the holy man went into a trance, as if held in sleep, neither fully sleeping nor awake. His attendants, thinking that he had fallen asleep, began to strike his sides. He, however, rose up as if from deepest sleep and said to them with sad spirit, “Oh, what have you done? Why did you disturb me? Although I seemed to you to be here, I was in another place.” But they persisted in asking him, saying, “Tell us, where were you, father?” He said to them, “May the Lord pardon you, most esteemed sons, for having woken me up; for I was in the holy church of Modena and there I committed the soul of my brother and fellow bishop Geminianus, bishop of that church, to almighty God, and there I stood, until his holy body was placed in the tomb.” On account of this, so that the truth might be discovered, the citizens of Ravenna and Classe sent riders to the above-mentioned city of Modena, in order that the words of the holy man might be          bishop of Ravenna for whom an independent date is known. For more on Severus, see Lanzoni, “S. Severo vescovo.” . In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, this statement about the proverb led to the assumption that all of the first twelve bishops of Ravenna were elected by manifestations of doves; see Laqua, Traditionen und Leitbilder, –, and Lucchesi, Note agiografiche, –. . Cf. Eccles. :. confirmed. The Modenese, when they had been asked the day and hour in which the holy soul of...