Passivus

Passivus was an Italian bishop of the early sixth century, identified as bishop of Fermo (ancient Firmum Picenum), known chiefly as a friend and correspondent of Magnus Felix Ennodius, the deacon and later bishop of Pavia (c. 473/4-521). Ennodius addressed letters and verse to him within the Ostrogothic-era Italian church of the reigns of Theodoric, a milieu of educated clergy who maintained classical literary culture even as the Western Empire dissolved. Beyond his appearance in Ennodius's correspondence he is only lightly attested, and details of his episcopate are not securely documented.