SEVERUS
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confirmation of his election (Oct., G38). But the
emperor, instead of granting the confirmation, or-
dered Severinus to sign his Ecthesis, a MonotheHte
profession of faith. This the pope-elect refused to
do, and the Exarch Isaac, in order to force him to
compliance, plundered the Lateran Palace. All was
in vain ; Severinus stood firm. Meanwhile his envoys
at Constantinople, though refusing to sign any hereti-
cal documents and deprecating violence in matters of
faith, behaved with groat tact, and finally secured the
imperial confirmation. Hence, after a vacancy of
over a year and seven months, the See of Peter was
again filled, and its new occupant proceeded at once
to declare that as in Christ there were two natures
so also were there in Him two wills and two natural
operations. During his brief reign he built the apse
of old St. Peter's in which church he was buried.
Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, I (Paris, 1886), 328 sq.; the works of St. Maximus, in P. G., XC, XCI; Mann, Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, I (London, 1906), 346 sqq.
Horace K. Mann.
Severus, Alexander, Roman emperor, b. at Acco in Palestine, 208; murdered by his mutinous soldiers at Sicula on the Rhine, 235 (SickUngen near Mainz). He was the son of Genessius Marcianus and Julia Mamma;a, and was knowTi in youth as Alexianus. When Elagabalus, his cousin and father by adop- tion, was murdered in 222, Alexander succeeded to the imperial throne. His education had been carefully conducted by Mammaja at Antioch, whither she in- vited, some time between 218 and 228, the great Chris- tian teacher, Origen. Eusebius relates (Hist, eccl., VI, xxi-xxviii) that she was "a very religious woman", and that Origen remained some time with her, in- structing her in all that could serve to glorify the Lord and confirm His Divine teachings. It does not, however, follow that she was a Christian. Her son Alexander was certainly very favourable to the Chris- tians. His historian, Lampridius, tells us several in- teresting details concerning this emperor's respect for the new rehgion. He placed in his private oratory {lararium) images of Abraham and Christ before those of other renowned persons, like Orpheus and Apollo- nius of Tyana (Vita Alex., x.xix); he tolerated the free exercise of the Christian faith ("Christianos esse pas- sus est", ibid., xxii) ; he recommended in the appoint- ment of imperial governors the prudence and solici- tude of the Christians in the selection of their bishops (ibid., xlv); he caused to be adjudged to them (ibid., xlix) a building site at Rome that the tavern-keepers (cauponarii) claimed, on the principle that it was bet- ter that God should be in some way honoured there than that the site shovild revert to such uses; he caused the famous words of Christ (Luke, vi, 31): "And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner" to be engraved on the walls of the palace of the Caesars; he even cher- ished the idea of building a temple to Our Lord, but refrained when it was said to him that very soon all the other divinities would cease to be honoured (ibid. , xliii) .
In spite of these signs of imperial goodwill, the Christians continued to suffer, even in this mild reign. Some writers think that it was then that St. Cecilia died for the Christian faith. His principal jurisconsult, Ulpian, is said by Lactantius (Inst. Div., V, ii) to have codified, in his work on the duties of a proconsul (De officio proconsulis), all anti-Christian imperial legislation (resmpto prmcipu7n), in order that the magistrates might more easily apply the common law {ut doceret quibus oportel eos poenis affici qui se cul- tores Dei confiterentur) . Fragments of this cruel code, from the seventh of the (ten) lost books of Ulpian on the proconsular office may yet be seen in the "Di- gests" (I, tit. xvi; xvii, tit. II, 3; xvliii, tit. IV, 1, and tit. xiii, 6). The surname "Severus", no less than the manner in which both he and Mammsea met their death, indicate the temper of his administration. He
sought to establish at Rome good order and moral
decency in public and private life, and made some use
of his power as censor morum by nominating twelve
officials (cwratores urhis) for the execution of his wise
dispositions. He seems to have been a disciple of the
prevailing religious "syncretism" or eclecticism, es-
tablished at Rome by his predecessor Elagabalus as
the peculiar contribution of this remarkable Syro-
Roman family to the slow but certain transformation
of the great pagan Empire into a mighty instrument of
Divine Providence for the healing of the moral ills that
were then reaching fullness. All historians agree as to
his life, and the moral elevation of his public and pri-
vate principles; Christian historians are usually of
opinion that these elements of virtue were owing to the
education he received under the direction of Origen.
Lampridius, Vita Alexandri in Script. Hist. Aug.; Tille- MONT, Hist, des empereur.-i romains. III (Paris, 1740), 475; Gib- bon, Decline and Full uf thr Unman Empire, I; Schiller, Gesch. d. rom. Kaiserziit f St ui t -uri , isso) ; Smith, Diet, of Greek and Ro- rmin Bioijr., a. v.; Himii.i:, Rrligion a Rome sous les Severes (Pans, 1886); Ai.i.ahu, Hist, de.t persecutions pendant la premiere moitie du III siicle (Paris, 1886) ; Troplong. De I'influence du Christianisme sur le droit civil des romains (Paris, 1842; 1902).
Thomas J. Shahan. Severus of Antioch. See Eutychianism; Mo-
NOPHYSITES AND MoXOPHYSITISM.
Severus Sanctus Endelechus, Christian rhe- torican and poet of the fourth century. It is possible that his true name was Endelechius and that he adopted the other names after his conversion to Chris- tianity. In the MSS. of the "Metamorphoses" of Apuleius, the subscription of the corrector and re- visor, Sallustius, declares him the pupil at Rome in 395 of the rhetorician Endelechius in the forum of Mars (which is the forum of Augustus) : "in foro Mar- tis controversiam declamans oratori Endelechio". This rhetorician is certainly identical with the poet. He was probably of Gallic origin. He was a friend of St. Paulinus of Nola, who dedicated to him his pane- gyric of Theodosius and even owed to him the idea of this work. We are in possession of Endelecihius's " De morte boum ", an idyl in thirty-three Asclepedian strophes, in which the shepherd Bucolus explains to his companion ^Egon that he is sad because his flock are dying of contagion. Tityrus enters leading his flock which remains healthy amid the epidemic. He explains that this miracle is due to the Sign of the Cross made on the forehead of the animals, whereupon Mgon and Bucolus decide to become Christians. This httle poem is chiefly interesting because it shows the resistance of paganism in the country and the means by which Christian preaching sought to overcome it. It was discovered in an unknown MS. and published by P. Pithou in 1586. Riese reprinted it in the "An- thologia Latina" (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1906, n. 893).
Teuffel, Gesch. der romischen Literatur (Leipzig, 1890) , §448, I; Bahdenhewer, Patrologie, §73, 5; Ebebt, Gesch. der Literatur des Mittelalters, I, 314; Manitius, Gesch. der christlich-lateinischen Lit. (Stuttgart, 1891), 258. PauL LeJAY.
Sevigne, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Madame DE, writer, b. at Paris, 6 Feb., 1626; d. at Grignan, 18 April, 1696. She was the granddaughter of St. Jane Frances de Chantal. Her father tlied the year after she was born, her mother in 1632. She was placed under the guardianship of her maternal uncle, the Abbe de Coulanges, who placed her education in charge of Messrs. Menage and Chapelain, who taught her Latin, Italian, and Spanish. At eighteen she married the Marquess Henri de Sevigne, who did not make her very happy, and who was slain in a duel after seven years of marriage. She had a daughter (1646) and a son (1648). In 1669 her daughter married the Count de Grignan, who was afterwards Governor of Provence. The Countess de Grignan went to rejoin her husband in 1671, which was a great sorrow to her mother. It may be .said that her love for her daughter filled Mme de S(5vigne's life. On four occasions Mme de Grignan returned to the north (1674,
