Severian

SEVERIANO. – Bishop of Gabala, d. after 408, he was one of the principal enemies of Giovanni Crisostomo (Socrates, Hist. eccl., VI, 11; Sozomeno, Hist. eccl., VIII, 10; Palladio, Dialogus de vita s. Joannis Chrysostomi, passim). Gennadio, De vir. ill., 21, calls him «in divinis scriptoribus eruditus et in homiliis declamator admirabilis». As a preacher he went to Constantinople and began plotting against Giovanni Crisostomo.

Gennadio knows of an Expositio in epistulam ad Galatas by him. In reality, however, S. commented on all the Pauline epistles: many fragments of these commentaries have been preserved in the “chains” (v. K. Staab, Pauluskommentare der griechischen Kirche, Münster 1933, pp. 213–351). As an exegete he represents the Antiochene school and often comes close to his teacher Diodoro (ibid., p. xxxi). His exegetical work existed in two recensions (ibid., p. xxxiii; H. Emonds, Zweite Auflage im Altertum, Leipzig 1941, p. 372). A complete collection of his sermons does not yet exist; many of them are falsely attributed in the tradition to s. Giovanni Crisostomo, for example: six sermons on the Hevaemeron are published under the name of the Saint (PG 56, 429 ff.; many fragments in Cosma Indicopleuste). Nine sermons have been preserved in Armenian (ed. Aucher, Venice 1827; homilies 10–15 are not the work of S.), and some of these have been identified among the works of Crisostomo. It would be pointless to list all the homilies attributed to him with greater or lesser justification; one must, however, mention the importance of S. for Western homiletics, especially for Pietro Crisologo, and perhaps also for Vittore di Capua (v. A. Siegmund, Die Überlieferung der griechisch-christlichen Literatur in der lateinischen Kirche, Munich 1939, p. 130 ff). Gennadio also attests to the Latin translation of works by G. (v. P. Courcelle, Les lettres grecques en Occident, Paris 1943, p. 222). S., who because of his attitude toward s. Giovanni Crisostomo had remained somewhat in the shadows (l'Altaner discusses him in a paragraph dealing with the adversaries of Giovanni Crisostomo), has, as a result of recent studies, become a figure of greater importance. S. was a learned man, an orthodox theologian, and perhaps an ambiguous character.

a priest, his activity aroused envy and jealousy among the local clergy; he therefore went to Favianis (near present-day Mautern on the Danube), where his preaching received a better reception. After a brief eremitical interlude, he founded a monastery at Favianis, which was soon populated by numerous disciples and collaborators in his apostolate. A man of intense piety, austere and solicitous for the good of souls, for the poor and for prisoners, he made Favianis the center of his preaching and apostolate. In that century, turbulent because of the continual incursions of the Alamanni, Rugi, Heruli, Goths, and Thuringians, S. knew how to speak to all the words of the Gospel, soothing the fierce barbarians and alleviating the tribulations caused by the devastations. Even the Arian barbarians did not hesitate to turn to him in their disputes, to ask him for favors and blessings, and to listen to his teachings. The Lord enriched him with the gift of miracles and prophecy. As death approached, he called the disciples around his bed and once more exhorted them to penance and piety; and, after receiving the Sacraments, he died on 8 January 482. He was buried in the church of his monastery, but in 488, when Odoacre transferred the peoples of Noricum to Italy, the monks took S.’s body with them. During the pontificate of Gelasio (492–96), through the intervention of the noble Barbaria, the body was transferred to the Castrum Lucullanum near Naples, where a monastery was built in his honor. Finally, in 909, to remove it from the profanations of the Saracens attacking the coasts of southern Italy, it was transferred to Naples.

SEVERINO, saint. – Great apostle of Riparian Noricum for approximately 30 years. The place and time of his birth are uncertain.

From the biography written in 511 by his disciple Eugippio, who based it on personal memories and the testimony of those who had been the closest witnesses of his glorious deeds, it is known only that, while still young and drawn by the desire for perfection, he went to the East to live in solitude. Following a supernatural warning, around 455 he went to Noricum, of which he became the apostle, benefactor, and wonder-worker; all—Romans and barbarians alike—listened to, obeyed, and venerated him. Placing himself under the direction of an old hermit, he began to preach, exhorting everyone to live as Christians and to do penance. Since, however,

gesch. Österreichs, I. Innsbruck–Vienna 1935, pp. 47–56; D. Mallardo, Il Calendario Marmoreo di Napoli, Rome 1947, pp. 58 ff., 183 ff.; Martyr, Romanum, p. 12. Agostino Amore