Ursus of Ravenna
bishop
Ursus (Italian: Orso, died 13 April 396) was bishop of Ravenna during the late 4th century who is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic church, with his feast day being commemorated on 13 April.
Biography
Ursus was born into a noble pagan family in Sicily but fled to Ravenna due to his family's anger with his conversion to Christianity. He was elected bishop following the death of Liberius III and held the position for 26 years. He is best known as the founder of the Ravenna Cathedral, which was named Basilica Ursiana in his honor. Ursus's cathedral was demolished and rebuilt in the 18th century. According to Andreas Agnellus, he died on 13 April on Easter Sunday, and he was buried at the Basilica Ursiana.
The dates of Ursus's tenure as bishop are a subject of some dispute. While some historians place it at 370–396, with the foundation of the Basilica Ursiana in 385, others place it at c. 405–431 to account for claims that he was directly succeeded by Peter Chrysologus.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 14, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q940204. VIAF identifies the subject as 56151246503344130060. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ursus of Ravenna” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.