St. Boethius

St. Boethius was born Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius about 480, of a distinguished Roman senatorial family, and became the last great philosopher of the classical Roman world and the first of the medieval. A man of vast learning, he set himself to translate and expound the works of Plato and Aristotle for the Latin West, and his translations and commentaries on logic, together with his treatises on music, arithmetic, and theology, served as textbooks for a thousand years and profoundly shaped medieval thought.

Rising to the highest offices under the Ostrogothic king Theodoric, he fell from favor when he defended a fellow senator, was accused of treason, and was imprisoned. There, awaiting death, he wrote his masterpiece, The Consolation of Philosophy, a serene and searching dialogue on providence, fortune, and the highest good, one of the most beloved and influential books of the Middle Ages. He was executed about 524. Venerated at Pavia as St. Severinus Boethius, his cult was confirmed by the Church, and his memory is kept on 23 October.