Pope Severinus
Pope Severinus | |
---|---|
Bishop of Rome | |
Church | Catholic Church |
Papacy began | 28 May 640 |
Papacy ended | 2 August 640 |
Predecessor | Honorius I |
Successor | John IV |
Personal details | |
Born | Rome, Byzantine Empire |
Died | (aged 55) Rome, Byzantine Empire |
Pope Severinus (died 2 August 640) was the bishop of Rome elected in October 638. He was caught up in a power struggle with Emperor Heraclius, who pressured him to accept Monothelitism. Severinus refused, which for over eighteen months hindered his efforts to obtain imperial recognition of his election. His pontificate was finally sanctioned on 28 May 640, but he died two months later.
Early career
Severinus was a Roman. His father was named Avienus, according to the Liber Pontificalis. The name of the father suggests descent from members of the Roman Senate.[1] A previous Avienus was Roman consul in 501.[2] Already an old man, Severinus was elected to succeed Honorius I as pope in mid-October 638.[3]
Monothelite controversy
Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople had drawn up the Ecthesis in response to the orthodox synodical letter of Patriarch Sophronius of Jerusalem. On learning of the death of Honorius, Sergius convinced Emperor Heraclius to issue this document as an imperial edict in December 638, thus valid across the entire empire. Eustachius, the magister militum, carried it to Isaac the Armenian, the exarch of Ravenna, with instructions that he was to ensure the new pope's acceptance of the Monothelite teaching. With its declaration of Jesus Christ only possessing one will, Severinus refused to sign it. The exarch therefore refused to confirm the papal election in the emperor's name, a situation that endured for over eighteen months.[3]
Isaac was determined to achieve his aim, so he commissioned Maurice, the chartoularios, to plunder the Lateran Palace and force Severinus to agree to the Ecthesis. Maurice gathered together a party of local discontented nobles and approached the local soldiers, the exercitus Romanus, and convinced them that the pope had withheld their pay and was keeping the arrears in the Lateran. A mob soon formed and they rushed en masse to the palace. Severinus managed to keep the hostile forces out of the palace. Maurice tried another tactic and three days later he was admitted into the palace with the city judges whom he won over to his side. They sealed up the treasures, and Maurice sent word to the exarch that he was free to come to the palace and help himself to the accumulated riches. Isaac soon appeared, and after exiling the leading clergy within the Lateran, spent the next eight days looting the palace, prudently sending a share to the emperor at Constantinople to prevent his displeasure.[4]
Meanwhile, at Constantinople, the papal legates had continued to seek the confirmation of Severinus. Emperor Heraclius still refused to grant his confirmation unless Severinus signed the Ecthesis. At first they were clearly told that unless they would go back and persuade the pope to accept the Ecthesis, they were wasting their time. The legates sought to persuade an unwell and slowly dying Heraclius that they were not there to make professions of faith, but to transact business. The envoys were unwilling to agree to this demand, but they were also unwilling to allow the Roman See to remain vacant indefinitely, so they offered to show Severinus the document and ask him to sign it if he thought it was correct. They made it clear that if the emperor was going to force Severinus to sign it, that all the clergy of the See of Rome would stand together, and such a route would only end in a lengthy and destructive stalemate. This offer was apparently satisfactory, and imperial recognition of the papal election was granted on 28 May 640.[5]
Death and legacy
Severinus died on 2 August 640, two months after his pontificate had finally started.[3] In the Liber Pontificalis, Severinus was described as a kind, generous and mild holy man, a benefactor to the clergy, and a friend to the poor.[6]
Notes
- ^ Martindale, Jones & Morris (1992), p. 155
- ^ Martindale, John R., "Fl. Avienus iunior 3", Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1980, pp. 577–581
- ^ a b c Attwater, p. 69
- ^ Richards, Popes and the papacy, p. 184
- ^ Jeffrey Richards, The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979), p. 183
- ^ Mann, p. 350
References
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Severinus" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Martindale, John R.; Jones, A.H.M.; Morris, John (1992), The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire – Volume III, AD 527–641, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-20160-5
- Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. Chronicle of the Popes: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy from St. Peter to the Present, Thames & Hudson, 2002, p. 57. ISBN 0-500-01798-0.
- Mann, Horace K., The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volume 1: The Popes Under the Lombard Rule, from St Gregory I (the Great) to Leo III, Part 1 (London, 1912)
- Attwater, Aubrey (1939). A Dictionary of Popes: From Peter to Pius XII.
Catholic Church titles | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | Pope 640 | Succeeded by |
- v
- t
- e
- Peter
- Linus
- Anacletus
- Clement I
- Evaristus
- Alexander I
- Sixtus I
- Telesphorus
- Hyginus
- Pius I
- Anicetus
- Soter
- Eleutherius
- Victor I
- Zephyrinus
- Callixtus I
- Urban I
- Pontian
- Anterus
- Fabian
- Cornelius
- Lucius I
- Stephen I
- Sixtus II
- Dionysius
- Felix I
- Eutychian
- Caius
- Marcellinus
- Marcellus I
- Eusebius
- Miltiades
- Sylvester I
- Mark
- Julius I
- Liberius
- Damasus I
- Siricius
- Anastasius I
- Innocent I
- Zosimus
- Boniface I
- Celestine I
- Sixtus III
- Leo I
- Hilarius
- Simplicius
- Felix III
- Gelasius I
- Anastasius II
- Symmachus
- Hormisdas
- John I
- Felix IV
- Boniface II
- John II
- Agapetus I
- Silverius
- Vigilius
- Pelagius I
- John III
- Benedict I
- Pelagius II
- Gregory I
- Sabinian
- Boniface III
- Boniface IV
- Adeodatus I
- Boniface V
- Honorius I
- Severinus
- John IV
- Theodore I
- Martin I
- Eugene I
- Vitalian
- Adeodatus II
- Donus
- Agatho
- Leo II
- Benedict II
- John V
- Conon
- Sergius I
- John VI
- John VII
- Sisinnius
- Constantine
- Gregory II
- Gregory III
- Zachary
- Stephen II
- Paul I
- Stephen III
- Adrian I
- Leo III
- Stephen IV
- Paschal I
- Eugene II
- Valentine
- Gregory IV
- Sergius II
- Leo IV
- Benedict III
- Nicholas I
- Adrian II
- John VIII
- Marinus I
- Adrian III
- Stephen V
- Formosus
- Boniface VI
- Stephen VI
- Romanus
- Theodore II
- John IX
- Benedict IV
- Leo V
- Sergius III
- Anastasius III
- Lando
- John X
- Leo VI
- Stephen VII
- John XI
- Leo VII
- Stephen VIII
- Marinus II
- Agapetus II
- John XII
- Benedict V
- Leo VIII
- John XIII
- Benedict VI
- Benedict VII
- John XIV
- John XV
- Gregory V
- Sylvester II
- John XVII
- John XVIII
- Sergius IV
- Benedict VIII
- John XIX
- Benedict IX
- Sylvester III
- Gregory VI
- Clement II
- Damasus II
- Leo IX
- Victor II
- Stephen IX
- Nicholas II
- Alexander II
- Gregory VII
- Victor III
- Urban II
- Paschal II
- Gelasius II
- Callixtus II
- Honorius II
- Innocent II
- Celestine II
- Lucius II
- Eugene III
- Anastasius IV
- Adrian IV
- Alexander III
- Lucius III
- Urban III
- Gregory VIII
- Clement III
- Celestine III
- Innocent III
- Honorius III
- Gregory IX
- Celestine IV
- Innocent IV
- Alexander IV
- Urban IV
- Clement IV
- Gregory X
- Innocent V
- Adrian V
- John XXI
- Nicholas III
- Martin IV
- Honorius IV
- Nicholas IV
- Celestine V
- Boniface VIII
- Benedict XI
- Clement V
- John XXII
- Benedict XII
- Clement VI
- Innocent VI
- Urban V
- Gregory XI
- Urban VI
- Boniface IX
- Innocent VII
- Gregory XII
- Martin V
- Eugene IV
- Nicholas V
- Callixtus III
- Pius II
- Paul II
- Sixtus IV
- Innocent VIII
- Alexander VI
- Pius III
- Julius II
- Leo X
- Adrian VI
- Clement VII
- Paul III
- Julius III
- Marcellus II
- Paul IV
- Pius IV
- Pius V
- Gregory XIII
- Sixtus V
- Urban VII
- Gregory XIV
- Innocent IX
- Clement VIII
- Leo XI
- Paul V
- Gregory XV
- Urban VIII
- Innocent X
- Alexander VII
- Clement IX
- Clement X
- Innocent XI
- Alexander VIII
- Innocent XII
- Clement XI
- Innocent XIII
- Benedict XIII
- Clement XII
- Benedict XIV
- Clement XIII
- Clement XIV
- Pius VI
- Pius VII
- Leo XII
- Pius VIII
- Gregory XVI
- Pius IX
- Leo XIII
- Pius X
- Benedict XV
- Pius XI
- Pius XII
- John XXIII
- Paul VI
- John Paul I
- John Paul II
- Benedict XVI
- Francis
Antiquity and Early Middle Ages |
|
---|---|
High and Late Middle Ages |
|
Early Modern and Modern Era |
|
- Category
- Catholic Church Portal