Blessed Severinus Boethius
![[illustration of Saint Severinus Boethius]](saints0g.jpg "??kb jpg illustration of Boethius, artist unknown; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
- Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius;
Last of the Romans
- Memorial
- 23 October
- Profile
- Descendant of a Roman consular family.
His father was chosen as consul in 487, but died soon after, leaving Severinus an orphan.
Educated by a pious, aristocratic friend of the family, Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus.
Fluent in Greek, he probably studied in Athens or Alexandria.
Known for his education and intellect.
Married Rusticana, the daughter of his mentor Symmachus.
They had of two sons.
Severinus served as Roman consul in 510; his sons were chosen as Roman co-consuls themselves in 522.
Aide and confidant to King Theodoric.
Philosopher.
Writer.
Political rivals accused him of disloyalty to the throne, of plotting to restore the Republic, and of the sacrilege of astrology; he was imprisoned without trial.
While in jail he reflected on the instability of a state whose government depended on a single man such as a king; these ideas were developed in his best-known work, De Consolatione Philosophiae (Consolations of Philosophy).
Soon after, he was executed on order of King Theodoric.
A tradition began soon after that he had really been imprisoned and killed for being an orthodox Catholic, and he was soon considered a martyr.
- Born
- 475-480 at Rome as Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius
- Died
- martyred in 524-525 at Pavia, Italy;
relics at Pavia
- Beatified
- 1883 (cultus confirmed)
- Prayers
- ...for Help to Contemplate God
- Writings
-
De Categoricis Syllogismis
De Consolatione Philosophiae (Consolations of Philosophy)
De Consolatione Philosophiae (Consolations of Philosophy)
De Differentiis Topicis
De Divisione
De Fide Catholic
De Institutione Arithmetic
De Institutione Music
De Trinitate
Geometria Euclidis a Boethio in Latinum translata
Introductio ad Syllogismos Categoricos
Liber contra Eutychen et Nestorium
Tractatus Theologici
commentaries on Cicero's Topica
commentaries on Porphyry's Isagoge
translation of Aristotle's logical treatises
translation of Porphyry's Isagogue
- Additional Information
-
Christian Biographies, by James E Kiefer
Catholic Encyclopedia, by William Turner
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