Feast of San Severo di Napoli

San Severo di Napoli, ora pro nobis

April 29th is the Feast of San Severo di Napoli, Bishop (363-409), Confessor and Miracle worker. Credited with founding several churches in Naples, including the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore, San Severo also built the monumental Battistero di San Giovanni in Fonte, the oldest baptistery in Western Christendom. It is often alleged he had San Genaro’s relics translated from Pozzuoli to the catacombs of Naples, but that honor actually belongs to Giovanni I, the city’s fourteenth Bishop.

According to an eleventh century account of the saint’s life, San Severo brought a dead man back to life to save his wife from an unscrupulous creditor. Threatening a poor widow and her young children with slavery, the man claimed her deceased husband put them up as collateral for a loan. Unable to convince the man to reconsider, San Severo brought him and several witnesses to the late husband’s sepulcher, and raised him from the dead. Confronted by the husband, the fraudster was forced to admit he lied about the debt and quickly made himself scarce.

Together with the Madonna del Soccorso and San Severino Abate, he is the patron saint of San Severo in Provincia di Foggia, Apulia. 

In celebration, I’m posting a prayer to St. Severus of Naples. The accompanying photo, courtesy of Andrew Giordano, was taken at the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta in Napoli. Evviva San Severo di Napoli!

Prayer to St. Severus of Naples

O Glorious St. Severus of Naples you served God in humility and confidence on earth, now you enjoy His beatific vision in Heaven. Help me to strengthen my faith and protect me in conflict. Obtain for me the grace to live a holy life, so that one day I may join you in the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen