Saint Servatius
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Saint Servatius ((Dutch) Sint Servaas; (French) Saint Servais) (traditionally died 384) was bishop of Tongeren—Roman Atuatuca Tungrorum the capital of the Tungri—one of the earliest dioceses in the Low Countries. Later in his life he fled to Maastricht, Roman Mosae Trajectum, where he became the first bishop of this city. He introduced Christianity to the Netherlands when he built a church over the Roman temple of Fortuna and Jupiter, the Church of Our Dear Lady. This church, one of the oldest buildings in The Netherlands, is still intact and a very important spiritual and religious site in Maastricht as it is the mother church of Christianity in The Netherlands.
A widely-travelled diplomat, Servatius is recorded as being present at several synods and church councils, and a determined prosecutor of Arianism. Servatius died in Maastricht in 384.
Servatius is patron saint of the city of Maastricht, and is venerated on May 13.
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[edit] History
In 343, "Sarbatios"—Greek texts rendering v as b—was present at the Synod of Serdica (modern Sofia). In the debates, Servatius represented the Trinitarian Christological views of the Western Emperor. Because the eastern bishops shared the opinions of their ruler, the Synod of Serdica was a failure.
When Athanasius was in exile in Trier, he met with Servatius, and the two campaigned against the Arian bishops and priests of the area. In the Council of Cologne in 346, Servatius testified against the bishop of Cologne, saying that, "Our churches are adjacent" and the bishop of Cologne "denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. It has even happened in the presence of Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria." Thus Servatius appears to have been bishop of Tongeren at this time.
After the western emperor Constans had been assassinated (350), Servatius was sent to Edessa as envoy to Constantius II, the Eastern Emperor, by the court party of the usurper Magnentius, to represent the late Constans as an unworthy tyrant and oppressor, in the unsuccessful hope of obtaining Constantius' recognition of Magnentius as co-Augustus. The outcome was a civil war that resulted in the death of Magnentius (353). The commission is a sign of the high standing of Servatius.
In 359, at the Council of Rimini, Sulpicius Severus reports that Servatius again eloquently denounced Arianism.
[edit] Legend
Legends accumulated round the historical figure of the bishop. Two medieval vitae—recently translated into English— place Servatius' birth in Armenia and make him a distant relative of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, through his mother, now called Memelia. A late Gothic mid-15th century wooden sculpture of a standing Memelia with the infant Servatius in her arms, identifiable by the bishop's mitre he is already wearing (Vendsyssel Historiske Museum, Denmark), was iconographically so similar to contemporary Madonna and Child sculptures, that it was long misattributed [1].
It was further related that Servatius became a priest and guardian of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. There he had a vision in which he was ordered to go to Tongeren to succeed a bishop Valentine, who had died there seven years earlier. On his deathbed, Valentine had declared that no person was to succeed him as a bishop unless that person had received divine orders to do so.
According to his hagiography, the translation of the see from Tongeren to Maastricht was given authenticity in the following manner: when the Huns threatened Tongeren, Saint Servatius went on pilgrimage to Rome. Keeping vigil at Saint Peter's tomb, he had a vision in which Peter forecast the destruction of the unbelieving and sinful Tongeren and ordered him to move the episcopal see to Maastricht. By way of further authentication, Peter handed Servatius the key to the Gates of Heaven, which gave Servatius the power to forgive sins, and to open or lock the Gates. Servatius returned to Tongres and immediately carried the precious relics of his predecessors to Maastricht as he had been ordered; there he died a few days later, on May 13, 384. For the historian, the legend suggests that a Hunnish destruction of Tongeren was widely remembered, though it may have postdated Servatius' lifetime. More likely Servatius preferred the safe castellum of Mosae Trajectum, Maastricht, over the relative open city of Atuatuca Tongrorum, Tongeren and consequently transferred his see in order to stay out of the hands of ever invading barbarian and german tribes who were knocking at the gates of the crumbling Roman Empire near the end of the 4th century A.D.
[edit] Basilicas and churches of St Servatius
Some historic basilicas in the Netherlands and Belgium and in western Germany are connected to Servatius: The Basilica of Our Lady erected on ancient foundations in Tongeren, the Basilica of Saint Servatius (St.Servaaskerk) in Maastricht, Saint Servatius in Grimbergen, and the collegiate church of Saint Servatius in Quedlinburg [2]. They are among the most beautiful Romanesque, medieval and baroque monuments in the Low Countries.
There is no reason to doubt that the saint's remains are to be found in the Basilica of Saint Servatius on the Vrijthof in Maastricht, which was founded ca. 560. The present Romanesque church was rebuilt from 1039. His tomb in the crypt is a favored place of pilgrimage: Pope John Paul II visited it in 1984. The 12th-century gilded reliquary containing the saint's relics is normally kept in the basilica's treasury; it became known as the Noodkist ("Distress Chest") because in times of calamity it was carried around the town. During the medieval period these processions caused such rioting that they were forbidden. A procession of the reliquary is still carried out every seven years. Other treasures that have become associated with the saint are a crozier, a staff, a pectoral cross, a chalice, and the very key to Heaven awarded to him in his vision in Rome.
Servatius is remembered in his diocese as the builder of two churches: the Basilica of Our Lady in Tongeren, and The Basilica of Our Dear Lady Stella Maris in Maastricht. At Tongeren the tradition has been confirmed by excavations in 1981 and 1985-89: under the medieval basilica, the remains of a pretty large 4th-century church have been identified.
Excavation of the basilica of Our Lady Star of the Sea in Maastricht has not been possible, but it is sure that this church was founded by Servatius as well. It was built on the site of a Roman sanctuary for Fortuna, Juno and Jupiter and must originally have been a small chapel. In the adjectant Hotel Derlon part of the excavated Roman remains of several temples and a road dating back to the 1st century b.C. can be admired, and it can be observed that these remains do stretch further, underneath the present day church.
The most important early sources for the life of Saint Servatius were Gregory of Tours (History of the Franks II.5), the priest Jocund, and Henric van Veldeke. In the later 6th century, Gregory wrote about Servatius' journey to Rome, the transfer of the Episcopal see to Maastricht, and Servatius' death shortly thereafter.
Between 1085-1088, Jocund wrote a vita of Saint Servatius commissioned by the clergy of the church of Saint Servatius.
At the end of the 12th century, Henric van Veldeke wrote his legend about the life of the Saint, which he based on the story of Gregory of Tours to which he added many further miracles emphasising Saint Servatius' saintliness.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Saint Servatius
- Official site of the Basilica of Saint Servatius
- Churches of Maastricht
- Dutch Wiki about the four Icesaints
- Amsterdam's Archeologisch Centrum: "Sint Servatius en zijn basiliek" (in Dutch)
- Vendsyssel Historiske Museum:The Blessed Memelia with the infant Servatius
[edit] Further reading
- (Servatius) 2005. The Life of Saint Servatius: A Dual-language Edition of the Middle Dutch 'legend of Saint Servatius' by Heinrich Von Veldeke and the Anonymous Upper German 'life of Saint Servatius' edited by L. Jongen Heinrich, and Kim Vivian, Richard H. Lawson and Ludo Jongen (translators) (Mellen Press) ISBN 0-7734-6063-2
