Syrus of Pavia

Infobox Saint
name= Saint Syrus of Pavia
birth_date=
death_date=~1st century AD
feast_day= December 9
venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church


imagesize= 200px
caption= Statue of Syrus, Chiesa di San Siro, Castelletto Monferrato.
birth_place=
death_place=
titles=
beatified_date=
beatified_place=
beatified_by=
canonized_date=
canonized_place=
canonized_by=
attributes= bishop trampling a basilisk (symbol of Arianism) underfoot; bishop enthroned between two deacons; with Saint Juventius
patronage=Pavia
major_shrine= Pavia
suppressed_date=
issues=

Saint Syrus (Sirus) of Pavia ( _it. San Siro) is traditionally said to have been the first bishop of Pavia during the 1st century.

His legend, according to the 14th century source known as the "De laudibus Papiæ" ("In the Praise of Pavia"), states that Syrus was the boy with the five loaves who appears in the Gospels. As Hippolyte Delehaye writes, "To have lived amongst the Saviour's immediate following was...honorable...and accordingly old patrons of churches were identified with certain persons in the gospels or who were supposed to have had some part of Christ's life on earth."ref|delehaye Syrus is said to have followed Saint Peter to Rome and from there he was sent to the Po valley to preach and convert the people to the Christian faith. He preached in all of the major cities of northern Italy.

Another tradition, dating back to the 8th century, makes Syrus a disciple of Saint Hermagoras, who in turn was the disciple of Mark the Evangelist. Hermagoras was the founder of the diocese of Aquileia. Together with Juventius of Pavia he was sent there by Saint Hermagoras. Both Juventius and Syrus are reported to have been the first bishop of Pavia. Syrus worked to challenge and convert those who followed Arianism in his diocese.

Veneration

Syrus is the patron saint of Pavia. Bramante designed the chapel of San Siro in the city's cathedral, which contains the saint's relics.

Notes

*Hippolyte Delehaye, "The Legends of the Saints" (Dublin, Four Courts Press, 1955), 37.
*N. Everett, "The Earliest recension of the Life of S. Sirus of Pavia (Vat. lat. 5771)", "Studi Medievali" 43 (2002), 857-957 (Latin text, Eng. trans., commentary).

External links

* [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saints08.htm Saint Siro]
* [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saints75.htm Saint Syrus of Pavia]
* [http://www.op.org/domcentral/life/martyr09.htm#0912 12 September] at Dominican Martyrology
* [http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/s1centy.htm 1st century saints at Orthodox England]
*it icon [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/80800 San Siro di Pavia]
* [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Siro_di_Pavia San Siro di Pavia] at the Italian Wikipedia
*it icon [http://www.cartantica.it/pages/collaborazionisansiro.asp San Siro]