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Statue of St. Maurice |
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| Martyrs | |
| Born | 3rd century. Thebes, Egypt |
| Died | 287 Agaunum, Switzerland |
| Honored in | Coptic Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation for the Causes of Saints |
| Major shrine | Abbaye de Saint-Maurice d'Agaune (until 961), Cathedral of Magdeburg (961-present) |
| Feast | September 22 (West), October 5 = Thout 5 (East) |
| Attributes | banner; soldier; soldier being executed with other soldiers, knight; indigenous African in full armour, bearing a standard and a palm; knight in armour with a red cross on his breast, which is the badge of the Sardinian Order of Saint Maurice |
| Patronage | against cramps; alpine troops;[1]Appenzell Innerrhoden;[2] armies;[1] armorers; Burgundians; Carolingian dynasty;[2] Austria; clothmakers; cramps; dyers; gout; infantrymen;[1] Lombards; Merovingians;[2] Piedmont, Italy; Pontifical Swiss Guards;[1] Saint-Maurice-en-Valais; St. Moritz;[2]Sardinia;[1] Savoyards;[2] soldiers; Stadtsulza, Germany; swordsmiths; weavers; Holy Roman Emperors [1] |
Saint Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, or Mauritius) was the leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd century, and one of the favorite and most widely venerated saints of that group. He was the patron saint of several professions, locales, and kingdoms. He is also a highly revered saint in the Coptic Orthodox Church
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According to the hagiographical material, the legion, entirely composed of Christians, had been called from Thebes in Egypt to Gaul to assist Maximian to defeat a revolt by the bagaudae.[3] However, when Maximian ordered them to harass some local Christians, they refused and Maximian ordered the unit punished. Every tenth soldier was killed, a military punishment known as decimation. More orders followed, they still refused, partly because of Maurice's encouragement, and a second decimation was ordered. In response to their refusal to use violence against fellow Christians, Maximian ordered all the remaining members of the 6,666 unit executed. The place in Switzerland where this occurred, known as Agaunum, is now Saint Maurice-en-Valais, site of the Abbey of Saint Maurice-en-Valais.
So reads the earliest account of their martyrdom, contained in the public letter Eucherius, bishop of Lyon (c. 434–450), addressed to his fellow bishop Salvius. Alternate versions have the legion refusing Maximian's orders only after discovering a town they had just destroyed had been inhabited by innocent Christians, or that the emperor had them executed when they refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods.
Bertran de la Farge asserted in La Croix occitane (2000) that the original Occitan cross, located somewhere in the marquisate of Provence, probably Venasque, could be a mixture of the Constantinople cross and the Coptic cross,[4] which was brought to Provence by monks and maybe also through the influence of a historical Saint Maurice.
There are four pieces of historical evidence that support the story.
1. The Papyrus: The military papyrus was found at Panopolis on the Nile just north of Thebaid district, and it contained a receipt of delivery and an auditor's note mentioning requisition and receipt. The letter is dated "In the Sixth year of our Lord the Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Probus Pius Augustus, Tubi sixteenth" (January 13th 282AD), and the delivery was for 38,496 modii of bread (estimate about 577,440 pounds, or 384,490 daily rations, which would sustain a legion for about three months) to be delivered to Panopolis to the "mobilized soldiers and sailors" [5].
The papyrus did not call them legionaries, however, which may have been due to the fact that native Egyptians were forbidden from serving in legions, but were allowed to serve in auxilary corps during that time period. The papyrus also strangely mentioned the grain as being requisitioned as a tax by the government (ordinarily the roman government paid a fixed price from sellers to buy grain for its soldiers, as opposed to taking the food without payment) [5].
2. The coins: an eagle flanked with banners was depicted on Alexandrian coins during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Septimus Severus, and Aurelian, and on no other occasion prior to 282. These coins were minted precisely during the times when troops were raised to create (respectively) the new legions I and III Italica, nova classis Libica, I II and III Parthica, I Illyricorum with IV Martia. No other legion is known to have been created from Egypt during this time, leaving historians only with the account from monasteries about the creation of the supposed Theban legion during this time[5].
3. The Notitia Dignitatum, recorded four legions from Thebes, plus reference to a fifth 'legio Thebeorum' and a 'Thebei Palatini', which was the only eastern force in the west after Constantine and remarkably had replaced the 'Praetoriani' (ie. the Praetorian guard) whom he had disbanded, which is an impressive note in consideration of whether Constantine (the first christian emperor) knew of the story of the martyred soldiers from Thebes. The four legions from Thebes were 'I Maximiana Thebeorum', 'II Flavia Constantia Thebeorum', 'III Diocletiana Thebeorum', and 'I Flavia Constantia' (the first and the third bear the names of tetrachs in 293, the second and fourth bear Constantine's name and were listed serving in Thebaid in the late fourth century)[5].
The names of these legions meant they were personal bodyguards for the pagan tetrarchs (I Flavia Constantia may have formerly been IV Galeriana Thebeorum). It is not clear why Theban troops were chosen for the imperial bodyguard, although Donald O'Reilly hypothesized that if they were in fact christian units, this may have been as a result of the fact that christians refused to murder and every single emperor in the previous century had been killed by his own soldiers [5]. The fact that they were listed as bodyguards for the tetrach corresponds exactly with the further evidence below.
4. The martyr Maximilian, executed in North Africa in 295, for refusing Diocletian's conscription to the army. In the acta of his martyrdom, there is an accurate record of his trial which contains the following exchange at one point:
Maximilian: "I will not accept the seal. I already have the seal of Christ who is my God." [to which the judge responded] "In the sacred bodyguard of our Lords Diocletian and Maximian, Constantius and Maximus, there are soldiers who are christians, and they serve."[5]
A greek hagiography stated that the soldiers were baptized by Zabdes, bishop of Jerusalem, which could have fit if their corps had been raised to fight in the contemporary war with Persia, and would also fit with the fact that roman military doctrine held that new legions should be used to replace experienced units in order to move them to the front (thus leaving the newly raised Theban corps in the rear closer to Jerusalem)[5].
One of the strongest arguments against the story is the fact the romans did not execute entire legions for insubordination[5]. Decimation had not been used to discipline a Roman legion for centuries: the previous documented execution of this sentence was in the reign of Galba, who ordered this done to a formation of marines that Nero had formed into a legion, and who demanded an eagle and standards. The monastic accounts themselves do not specifically state that all the soldiers were collectively executed; an eleventh century monk named Otto of Freising wrote that most of the legionaries escaped, and only some were executed [5]. It's possible that the legion was simply re-organized during Diocletian's re-organization of units (breaking up legions of 6000 men to create smaller units of 1000), and that some of the soldiers had been executed, and that this was where the story of the legion's destruction originated from [5]. Alternative theories explaining the story's origin also exist.
Further, the military staunchly followed Isis or Mithras (Sol Invictus), until Constantine's time at the earliest, making it unlikely they filled an entire legion.
Some suggest that the statement that the entire legion was Christian was a pious fabrication by Theodore, bishop of Octodurum, sometime between 388 and 394, whom Eucherius, bishop of Lyon, cites as his source for this story, to encourage his contemporary Christians serving in the Roman army to ignore the orders of their pagan superiors and instead side with the Church. This view is not accepted by Church historians, who assert the authenticity of the account. If it was a later fabrication, by Eucherius himself, its dissemination was certainly successful in drawing pilgrims to the abbey at Agaunum. That institution was created ex nihilo from 515 onwards by Sigismund, the first Catholic king of the Burgundians. The abbey was unique in its time as the creation of a king working in concord with bishops, rather than an organic development that occurred round the central figure of a holy monk.
Saint Maurice became a patron saint of the Holy Roman Emperors. In 926, Henry I (919–936), even ceded the present Swiss canton of Aargau to the abbey, in return for Maurice's lance, sword and spurs. The sword and spurs of Saint Maurice were part of the regalia used at coronations of the Austro-Hungarian Emperors until 1916, and among the most important insignia of the imperial throne. In addition, some of the emperors were anointed before the Altar of Saint Maurice at St. Peter's Basilica.[2] In 929 Henry I the Fowler held a royal court gathering (Reichsversammlung) at Magdeburg. At the same time the Mauritius Kloster in honor of Maurice was founded. In 961, Otto I was building and enriching the cathedral at Magdeburg, which he intended for his own tomb. To that end,
Maurice is traditionally depicted in full armor, in Italy emblasoned with a red cross. In folk culture he has become connected with the legend of the Spear of Destiny, which he is supposed to have carried into battle; his name is engraved on the Holy Lance of Vienna, one of several relics claimed as the spear that pierced Jesus' side on the cross. Saint Maurice gives his name to the town St. Moritz as well as to numerous places called Saint-Maurice in French speaking countries. The Indian Ocean island state of Mauritius was named after Maurice of Nassau, a member of the House of Orange, and not directly after St. Mauritius himself.
Over 650 religious foundations dedicated to Saint Maurice can be found in France and other European countries. In Switzerland alone, seven churches or altars in Aargau, six in the Canton of Lucerne, four in the Canton of Solothurn, and one in Appenzell Innerrhoden can be found (in fact, his feast day is a cantonal holiday in Appenzell Innerrhoden).[2] Particularly notable among these are the Church and Abbey of Saint-Maurice-en-Valais, the Church of Saint Moritz in the Engadin, and the Monastery Chapel of Einsiedeln Abbey, where his name continues to be greatly revered. Several chivalric orders were established in his honor as well, including the Order of the Golden Fleece, Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus and the Order of Saint Maurice.[2] Additionally, fifty-two towns and villages in France have been named in his honor.[7]
Maurice is also the patron saint of a Roman Catholic parish and church in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, and including part of the town of Arabi in St. Bernard parish. The church was constructed in 1856, making it one of the oldest currently used churches in the area. The church was devastated by the winds and flood waters of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005; the copper-plated steeple was blown off the building. Masses resumed at the building in 2006. It is currently again an active church.
On July 19, 1941 Pope Pius XII declared Saint Maurice to be patron Saint of the Italian Army's Alpini Mountain Infantry Corps[8] The Alpini Corps has celebrated Saints Maurice's feast every year since then.
St Maurice is the patron saint of soldiers, swordsmiths, armies, and infantrymen. He is also inexplicably the patron saint of weavers and dyers, and is invoked against menstrual cramps. Manresa (Spain), Piedmont (Italy), Montalbano Jonico (Italy), Schiavi di Abruzzo (Italy), and Stadtsulza (Germany) have chosen St. Maurice as their patron saint as well.[9] St Maurice is also the patron saint of the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a historical military order of unmarried merchants in present-day Estonia and Latvia.[10]
In September 2008, certain relics of St. Maurice were transferred to a new reliquary and rededicated in Schiavi di Abruzzo (Italy).[11][12]
St. Maurice was an Egyptian from Thebes in Upper Egypt. His Egyptian origin is stressed by the Coptic Greek name "Maurikios", which appears in the papyri, and is identical with the later Roman name "Mauritius", according to G. Heuser in his Personennamen der Kopten.
In fact, the name is found in epitaphs of the Ptolemaic Egypt and Egyptian Christian periods, and is still used as a personal name in Egypt's Coptic community.[2]
"The oldest surviving" [13] image that depicts Saint Maurice as a Black African [14] was carved in the 1240s for the Cathedral of Magdeburg, a strikingly accurate depiction of a contemporary armed knight; there it is displayed next to the grave of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. Jean Devisse, The Image of the Black in Western Art, laid out the documentary sources for the saint's popularity and documented it with illustrative examples.[15][16] The Cathedral of Magdeburg is the first and oldest standing temple honoring the life of St. Maurice. When the new cathedral was built under Archbishop Albert II of Käfernberg (served 1205-32), the relic said to be the head of Maurice was procured from the Holy Land.
The image of Saint Maurice has been examined in detail by Gude Suckale-Redlefsen,[17] who demonstrated that this image of Maurice has existed since Maurice's first depiction in Germany between the Weser and the Elbe, and spread to Bohemia, where it became associated with the imperial ambitions of the House of Luxembourg. According to Suckale-Redlefsen, the image of Maurice reached its apogee during the years 1490 to 1530. Images of the saint died out in the mid-sixteenth century, undermined, Suckale-Redlefsen suggests, by the developing African slave trade. "Once again, as in the early Middle Ages, the color black had become associated with spiritual darkness and cultural 'otherness'".[18]
