Ursicinus of Ravenna, St.
URSICINUS OF RAVENNA, ST.
Bishop, martyr; d. Ravenna, April 537 or 538. Although there is an early Ursicinus of Ravenna, who was supposedly a physician martyred in the 2d century (feast, June 19), the saint considered here was archbishop of Ravenna, holding that see from 534 until his death. Very little is known of him. The bollandist Papebrochnoted that his relics were preserved in a marble container in the altar of the basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, that he was commonly entitled sanctus or beatus, but saw no other evidence of cult. In the 9th century, Agnellus the commendatory abbot gave an account of Ursicinus in his Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis (Patrologia Latina 106:597–599), and noted that his relics were in the altar of San Vitale.
Feast: Sept. 5.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum Sept. 2 (Paris 1868) 535–536. peter damian, Carmina sacra et preces, Patrologia Latina, ed. j.p. migne, 217 v. (Paris 1878–90) 145:950. Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis, 2 v. (Brussels 1898–1901; suppl. 1911) 2:8409. h. leclercq, Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, ed. f. cabrol, h. leclerq, and h. i. marrou, 15 v. (Paris 1907–53) 14.2:2083–84.
[w. a. jurgens]