A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.
December 30
Not verified yet
Bishop
Liberius is one of the first bishops of Ravenna, though little more than his name is known. The church of Ravenna is said to have been founded by St. Apollinaris, a disciple of St. Peter. Liberius succeeded St. Datus.
Two later bishops of Ravenna, Liberius II and Liberius III, are also honoured as saints, so it is hard to tell which is meant on each feast. Probably Liberius I is remembered on 30 December.
Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 179 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.
Venerated at Rayenna on April 29 and IBERIUS is one of the first bishops of Ravenna of whom we know anything, and that little is confined to his name. The church of Ravenna is said to have been founded by S. Apollinaris, disciple of S. Peter. He was succeeded by S. Adevitus, and both these first bishops are thought to have died as martyrs.
Learn from the kind of life it was. A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.
Keep their day. Remember them on December 30 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.
Venerated at Rayenna on April 29 and IBERIUS is one of the first bishops of Ravenna of whom we know anything, and that little is confined to his name. The church of Ravenna is said to have been founded by S. Apollinaris, disciple of S. Peter. He was succeeded by S. Adevitus, and both these first bishops are thought to have died as martyrs. The immediate predecessor of S. Liberius was S. Datus, who died in 185, when Liberius was elected in his room. There were afterwards two other bishops of Ravenna of the same name, Liberius II., who died in 351, and Liberius III., who sat between 374 and 379. All three are regarded as saints, and it is not easy to decide which receives veneration on the days on which the name of Liberius of Ravenna occurs in the Kalendars. But probably Liberius I. is commemorated on December 30, and either Liberius II. or Liberius III. on April 29.
1 Unknown to history, not in any trustworthy lists of the bishops of Milan. SS. Sabinus and Others.
Feast: December 30
One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Liberius I. of…'s story, and a nudge to keep going.
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.
