Saint of the Day – 27 November – Saint Severin the Hermit (Died c540)

Saint of the Day – 27 November – Saint Severin the Hermit (Died c540) Monk and Hermit. Also known as – Severinus.

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Paris, the departure from this world of St Severin, Monk and Solitary.”

Severin of Paris, was a devout Monk who became a Hermit living at the site of the Saint-Severin Church in the 6th Century and died in about 540.

One of his disciples was Saint Cloud, a Merovingian Prince who left the Royal Court to become a Monk and Hermit.

After the death of Severin, a Chapel was erected on the site of his cell, believed to be near the Oratory of Saint Martin in the present Church. This Chapel was destroyed during the Norman invasions in the 9th Century, then rebuilt in the Romanesque style in the 11th Century.

The current building which is situate in the Latin Quarter of Paris, on the lively tourist Street, Rue Saint-Séverin. It was constructed beginning in 1230, then, after a fire, rebuilt and enlarged in the 15th to 17th Centuries in the Flamboyant Gothic style. It is the Parish Church for students at the University of Paris and is one of the oldest Churches which remains standing on the Left Bank.