Mosaic of Saint Ursus (bishop 399–426) in the
Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, RavennaApse mosaic, Basilica of San Vitale: At far right of image, Ecclesius is portrayed presenting Christ with a model of the church[3]
St.
Apollinaris, traditionally 1st century and legendarily appointed to the episcopate by
Peter the Apostle himself, but dates are uncertain; may instead belong to the 2nd century[4][5]
John Angeloptes, "the Angel-seer"
c. 430–433.[12] Revered as a saint, feast day 27 November. In his Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis (LPR; 'Book of Pontiffs of the Church of Ravenna'),[10]Andreas Agnellus (9th century), dates Angeloptes' episcopate to late in the 5th century, conflating details of his life with John II (477–494), whom he designates "John I".[a][13]
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum – Collection of ancient Latin inscriptions, which includes the inscription on John II's (477–494) tomb (CIL 11, 304) – and that of the other episcopal tombs of this era
Notes
^
abThe chronology of
Andreas Agnellus in LPR is confused: He lists only one bishop of Ravenna with the name John in the 5th century. He omits the years 430–433 as a separate period of office, conflating John Angeloptes (who is "John I") with John II. He mistakenly assigns events from Angeloptes' time, in the earlier part of the century, to the episcopate of John II (477–494) – or, as Agnellus designates him by this error – "John Angeloptes", thus "John I".[13] This confusion is explained by the 19th century historian,
Thomas Hodgkin:
St. John II ruled the See from 477 to 494. Here at last we get two certain dates from the inscription on his tomb, and the recovery of this name and these dates enables us to correct an omission of Agnellus and to understand the cause of the wild errors which he has committed in his chronology. For it is now clear that in his life of John the Angel-seer he has run two bishops into one, and has calmly blended transactions reaching over a period of some sixty or seventy years, the death of
Honorius, the invasion of
Attila, the war between
Odovacar and Theodoric, in his life of a bishop who according to his own account ruled his See for 16 years, 10 months, and 18 days.
It was this John II who negotiated the peace, the short-lived peace between Odovacar and
Theodoric which terminated the long
siege of Ravenna (493).
^
abBenigni, Umberto (1911). "Ravenna" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company. pp. 662–667. p. 666: Among the bishops... mention should be made of Joannes Angeloptes (430-33), so called because he had the gift of seeing his guardian angel...
^
abcdeHodgkin, Thomas (1892).
"Bishops and Churches of Ravenna". Italy and Her Invaders. Vol. I: The Visigothic Invasion. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 899–917.
^Brown, Thomas S. (1993).
"Ecclesio, santo". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 42. Treccani | Institute of the Encyclopedia of Italy.
Bovini, Giuseppe (1990). La cattedra eburnea del vescovo Massimiano di Ravenna (in Italian). Ravenna: Società cooperativa Giorgio La Pira. p. 13.
ISBN978-88-85315-00-6.
^Bray, Massimo, ed. (1999).
"Gebeardo Tedesco". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 52. Treccani | Institute of the Encyclopedia of Italy.
^Mazzanti, Giuseppe (2003).
"Guglielmo da Capriano". In Massimo Bray (ed.). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 60. Treccani | Institute of the Encyclopedia of Italy.