8th January is the saint’s day for a 5th
century ascetic and missionary named Severinus. He is known as “Severinus of
Noricum” to distinguish him from another saint with the same name – Noricum is
the Roman province in which Severinus did much of his work, the area covering
parts of modern Austria and Slovenia.
He was probably born in Egypt in around the year 410. His
early desire was to live as a hermit in the desert, but he became convinced
that he would do more good by converting non-believers to Christianity so he
travelled northwards until he reached the River Danube in Noricum.
His efforts were not successful at first, but he persevered
and set up a string of monasteries to which people came when they were in need.
He was able to persuade people to change their ways, these including a rich
woman whom he encouraged to give huge quantities of food to the poor. He also
gained a reputation as a miracle worker, including the driving away of a plague
of locusts.
As time went by, Severinus became more successful in his
conversion rate, and he can therefore be credited with having brought
Christianity to the region, which has remained strongly Roman Catholic ever
since.
Severinus was at heart a reclusive individual and he often
shut himself away for long periods of time to meditate and pray. He lived an
extremely simple life, never eating during the hours of daylight and going
everywhere barefoot.
He died of pleurisy on 8th January 482, singing a
psalm as he slipped away.
© John Welford
Interesting John
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