Tiberius of Naples

Saint Tiberius of Naples was bishop of Naples in southern Italy from 818 to 838 (he died between 28 and 31 March 838). The Catholic Church honors him as "blessed".

After the death of Bishop Paul III the Younger, in 810, the Neapolitans had great disagreements over his successor. After many discussions, the deacon Tiberius, a very pious and respected man, was elected bishop. Duke Anthimus did not support his election and obtained from Pope Leo III the annulment of it, on the ground that he had committed many wrongs unworthy of a hierarch. In 811 Anthimus chose Ursus II as bishop, who held the see until the death of the duke in 818. When Theoctistus became the new ruler of Naples, the enemies of Anthimus appealed to Pope Paschal I, who recognized the election of Ursus as uncanonical, deposed him and decided to return Tiberius to the Neapolitan see.

During his episcopate Tiberius did much for the welfare of the diocese: he ordered the adornment of the cathedral and consecrated the monastery of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, restored at the expense of Theodenanda, widow of Duke Anthimus; he appointed her niece Euprassia abbess there and named Theodenanda herself abbess of the monastery of Saint Mary. In 831, during the siege of the city by the princes of Benevento, Prince Sico stole from the catacombs the relics of Saint Januarius, one of the patrons of Naples, and took them to his capital. In June 832 Duke Stephen III was murdered on the steps of the basilica of Santa Restituta, then the cathedral of Naples. He is honored as a saint of the undivided Church.