Serenus, bp. of Marseilles

Serenus (5), 10th bp. of Marseilles c. 595–600, known from the letters of Gregory the Great. To his good offices were commended St. Augustine on his mission to England in 596 (Greg. Magn. Ep. vi. 52; Migne, Patr. Lat. lxxvii. 836), and, three years later, the monks dispatched to help him (xi. 58, Patr. Lat. 1176). Two other letters from Gregory are preserved. Serenus in an excess of iconoclastic zeal had entered the churches of Marseilles and broken and cast forth the images. Gregory, commending his fervour against idolatry, reproved his violence, since the use of representations in a church was that the unlearned might read on the walls what they were unable to read in the Scriptures (ix. 105, Patr. Lat. 1027). Serenus, disregarding the warning and even affecting to believe the letter a forgery, received a severe rebuke and a reiteration of the pope's views (xi. 13, Patr. Lat. 1128, written Nov. 1, 600). Gall. Christ. i. 639; Ricard, Evêques de Marseille, 24, 25; Vies des saints de Marseille, S. Serenus, Bayle.

[S.A.B.]