Syrus of Pavia
Encyclopedia
Saint Syrus of Pavia 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
Feeding the multitude
Feeding the multitude is the combined term used to refer to two separate miracles of Jesus in the Gospels.The First Miracle, "The Feeding of the 5,000" is the only miracle which is present in all four canonical Gospels...

. As Hippolyte Delehaye
Hippolyte Delehaye
Hippolyte Delehaye was a Belgian Jesuit who was a hagiographic scholar and an outstanding member of the Bollandists, who established critical editions of texts relating to the Christian saints and martyrs that were based on applying the critical method of sound archaeological and documentary...

 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
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

 life on earth." Syrus is said to have followed Saint Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...

 to Rome and from there he was sent to the Po valley
Po River
The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...

 to preach and convert the people to the Christian faith. He preached in all of the major cities of northern Italy
Northern Italy
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...

.

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
Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist is the traditional author of the Gospel of Mark. He is one of the Seventy Disciples of Christ, and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, one of the original four main sees of Christianity....

. Hermagoras was the founder of the diocese of Aquileia
Aquileia
Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in what is now Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso , the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times...

. Together with Juventius of Pavia
Juventius of Pavia
Saint Juventius was a bishop of Pavia during the 1st century. Together with Syrus of Pavia he was sent there by Saint Hermagoras. Both Juventius and Syrus are reported to have been the first bishop of Pavia....

 he was sent
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...

 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
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...

 in his diocese.

Veneration

Syrus is the patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

 of Pavia. Bramante designed the chapel of San Siro in the city's cathedral
Pavia Cathedral
The Cathedral of Pavia is a church in Pavia, northern Italy, the largest in the city. The construction was begun in the 15th century on the site of two pre-existing Romanesque cathedrals . The cathedral houses the remains of St. Sirus, first bishop of Pavia...

, which contains the saint's relics.

External links

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