According to legend, Severus, a wool weaver, went with his wife, Vincentia, to observe the election of a successor to Bishop Agapitus for Ravenna.

When he arrived at the church a white dove landed three times on his shoulders, so the people took this as a sign elected him.

[4] On the feast of Pentecost 582, Archbishop John II "Romanus" consecrated the Basilica of San Severo in Ravenna-Classe at his burial place and in his honor - it was destroyed in 1820 (and excavated from 1964 to 1967).

A Gallic priest named Felix stole Severus' bones together with those of his wife Vincentia and daughter Innocentia and brought them to Pavia.

[5][6] Severus is depicted in Justinian's mosaics in Saint Apollinaire in Classis, and his name is recorded in early martyrologies.