SEVERINO, POPE. – A Roman, son of Abienus, he succeeded Honorius (d. in October 638), but could be consecrated only on 28 May 640.
The delay was due to the fact that the emperor Heraclius demanded from the apocrisarii sent to Constantinople to obtain ratification of S.’s election their subscription to the Ἐκθεσις, published in September–October 638; naturally, the legates could not promise the Pope’s adherence and were therefore detained in the East for approximately a year and a half.
During the wait, however, the chartulary Mauricius, with the connivance of the exarch Isaac, incited the Roman army to seize the goods amassed by Honorius in the Lateran, saying that the share intended for them as pay was kept there. The episcopium was invaded and sealed; then Isaac arrived and, after exiling the dignitaries of the clergy in order to eliminate all resistance, all the goods were carried away and divided among the soldiers, the exarch, and the Emperor. Only then could S. be consecrated, and during his brief pontificate, which lasted barely two months, he showed himself toward all to be gentle, kind, generous, and devoted to the poor. He died on 2 August and was buried in St Peter’s.