From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   February 1st - St. Severus of Ravenna B (RM)   
      
   Died c. 348. Severus was a poor weaver of Ravenna, Italy, who never dreamed   
   that   
   God would one day call him from his weaver's loom to rule a diocese, but God   
   has   
   strange ways of calling His servants and sometimes lays His hand upon them   
   in   
   the least likely places: from the plough and the bench have come some of the   
   greatest of His apostles.   
      
   So it happened that when the bishopric of Ravenna fell vacant in 283 and the   
   cathedral was filled with those who had gathered to elect a new bishop,   
   Severus   
   said to his wife, Vincentia, that he would visit the minister and see what   
   was   
   going on. She replied that he had much better remain at home and not show   
   himself in his working clothes among the nobles and well-dressed citizens.   
   "What   
   harm is there in my going?" he asked. "Why, you have work to do here," she   
   answered, "instead of gadding about sightseeing." When he persisted, she   
   said,   
   "Go, and may you come back with a good box on your ear," and added   
   sarcastically: "Go, then, and get elected bishop."   
      
   Severus, accustomed to her sharp tongue, set out and, entering the crowded   
   cathedral, stood at the back, ashamed of his working clothes covered with   
   flocks   
   of wool. When, in the course of the service, the power of the Holy Spirit   
   was   
   invoked in prayer, there appeared in the cathedral a white dove that   
   attracted   
   the attention of the assembly, and which after flying around fluttered at   
   the   
   ear of the poor spinner. He beat it off, but it returned and finally came to   
   rest upon his shoulder. Every eye was now turned in his direction, and the   
   people, regarding it as a heavenly sign, with one accord chose him to be   
   their   
   bishop.   
      
   Vincentia was still at home, and when a neighbor came running, breathless,   
   to   
   her door with the news, she laughed and would not believe it. "What a tale,"   
   she   
   said, "that a man who tosses a shuttle should be made a prelate!" But when   
   another came with the same story, and yet another, and a crowd gathered at   
   her   
   door, and she found it was true, she was speechless.   
      
   Thus, it came to pass that Severus the weaver became bishop of Ravenna and   
   who   
   can doubt that he was a good weaver, well respected for his work and   
   character,   
   and that he was chosen not only because of a good omen but also for his own   
   fine   
   qualities. For these he was chosen to accompany the papal legate to the   
   synod of   
   Sardica in 344.   
      
   He made a good bishop, and when at last he came to die, he said his last   
   Mass   
   before all the people, then quietly dismissed them with his blessing. When   
   all   
   had departed save a single boy who served at the altar, he bade the boy   
   close   
   the doors, and clothing himself in his episcopal robes, went to the tomb of   
   his   
   wife and daughter, who had died before him. There with the help of the boy   
   he   
   raised the stone, and descending into the grave, laid himself down, and   
   after a   
   prayer closed his eyes and fell asleep. After his death he was canonized a   
   saint, and is usually portrayed in his bishop's robes and with a weaver's   
   shuttle (Benedictines, Gill).   
      
   It may be that the dove was a common phenomenon, or that it was simply a   
   pious   
   addition to the story of unlikely bishops, but it occurs in several stories.   
      
   In art, St. Severus is a bishop weaving. He may have a loom and weaver's   
   tools   
   and, possibly, a dove on his shoulder (Roeder). He is the patron of glove   
   makers, hatters, and weavers (Roeder).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   We therefore grossly deceive ourselves in not allotting more time to the   
   study   
   of divine truths. It is not enough barely to believe them, and let our   
   thoughts   
   now and then glance upon them: that knowledge which shows us heaven, will   
   not   
   bring us to the possession of it, and will deserve punishments, not rewards,   
   if   
   it remain slight, weak, and superficial.   
   --Saint Apollinaris of Hierapolis   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me. (Psalm 34:5)   
      
   Lord, I love the temple where you dwell, where your glory is.  (Psalm 26:8)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Litany of February Saints   
      
         Editor's Note: Need a little extra devotional prayer to add to your   
   daily   
   Rosary? Need some impetus to prepare for this coming Lent this month? What   
   follows is a litany to all of the saints whose feast days are celebrated in   
   the   
   month of February. Many of these saints are little-known and often are not,   
   for   
   that reason, invoked in our prayers.   
      
            If you add this short litany to your daily Rosary, you will have   
   the   
   benefit of invoking the prayers of some of these lesser-known saints for   
   February.   
      
   Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.   
   Lord, have mercy, Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.   
   God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.   
   God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.   
   God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.   
   Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.   
   Jesus Christ, King of glory, to whom His Blessed Mother presented you in the   
   temple, have mercy on us   
   Holy Mary, Mother of God * pray for us.   
   Our Lady most pure, *   
   Our Lady of Lourdes, *   
      
   St. Peter, First Sovereign Pontiff who first ruled in Antioch, *   
   St. Ignatius, Holy Bishop and Martyr *   
   St. Blaise, Holy Bishop and Martyr*   
   St. Andrew Corsini, Holy Bishop and Confessor *   
   St. Agatha, Holy Virgin and Martyr *   
   All ye Holy Martyrs of Japan *   
   St. Titus, Holy Bishop and Confessor *   
   St. Dorothy, Holy Virgin and Martyr *   
   St. Romuald, Holy Abbot *   
   St. John of Matha, Holy Confessor *   
   St. Cyril of Alexandria, Holy Bishop and Doctor of the Church *   
   St. Apollonia, Holy Virgin and Martyr *   
   St. Scholastica, Holy Virgin and Religious Foundress *   
   All ye Seven Holy Servite Founders *   
   St. Catherine of Ricci, Holy Virgin *   
   St. Valentine, Holy Confessor and Martyr*   
   Sts. Faustinus and Jovita, Holy Martyrs*   
   St. Onesimus, Holy Bishop and Martyr *   
   St. Simeon, Holy Bishop and Martyr *   
   St. Gabinus, Holy Confessor and Martyr *   
   St. Eucherius, Holy Martyr *   
   St. Severian, Holy Bishop *   
   St. Peter Damian, Holy Bishop and Doctor of the Church *   
   St. Matthias, Holy Apostle *   
   St. Ethelbert, Holy King of Britannia*   
   St. Tarasius, Holy Bishop *   
   St. Melchtilde, Holy Virgin *   
   St. Gabriel of Sorrowful Virgin, Holy Confessor *   
   St. Romanus, Holy Abbot *   
      
   All you holy saints and angels, pray for us.   
      
   * pray for us   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)