| Saint Servatius | |
|---|---|
Portrait bust of Saint Servatius (ca. 1580) in the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht |
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| Born | traditionally in Armenia |
| Died | ~384 AD |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church[1] |
| Feast | May 13 |
| Attributes | depicted as a bishop with three wooden shoes; at a reading desk with a shield by him with three wooden shoes; being met at the city gate by burghers as he holds the key and is attended by an angel; with a key in one hand, placing his crozier on a dragon; striking water; with an eagle fanning him as he sleeps in the sun dressed as a pilgrim. |
| Patronage | Maastricht; invoked against foot troubles, lameness, rheumatism, rats, and mice |
Saint Servatius [2] (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 spread Christianity to the Low Countries when he built a church over the Roman temple of Fortuna and Jupiter, the Church of Our Dear Lady. This church is still a very important spiritual and religious site in Maastricht.
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, Schijndel and Grimbergen, and is venerated on May 13. Traditionally, he was the third of the Ice Saints.
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In 343, "Sarbatios"—Greek texts rendering v as b—was present at the Council of Sardica (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 Sardica 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.
Legends accumulated round the historical figure of the bishop. Two medieval Vitae ("Lives") place Servatius' birth in Armenia and make him a distant relative of John the Baptist and Jesus, through his mother, now called Memelia. A mid-15th century, late Gothic 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.[3]
The most important early source about the life of Saint Servatius is Gregory of Tours[4]. In the late 6th century, Gregory wrote about Servatius' journey to Rome, the transfer of the Episcopal see to Maastricht, and Servatius' death shortly thereafter. According to the Frankish historian, the translation of the see from Tongeren to Maastricht occurred when the Huns threatened Tongeren, and a certain Aravatius (identified by some scholars as 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 Tongeren because of unfaithfulness and sinfulness. He then ordered Aravatius to move the episcopal see to Maastricht. Peter then handed the key to the Gates of Heaven to Aravatius, thereby transferring to him the power to forgive sins. Aravatius returned to Tongeren and brought the relics of his predecessors to Maastricht. There he died on 13 May 384 according to consistent tradition.[5]
Around 1075 a certain Jocundus wrote a biography of Saint Servatius commissioned by the clergy of the church of Saint Servatius. Jocundus is also the author of the Miracula. Both were composed, according to P.C. Boeren,[6] to quell doubts about the genealogy of Servatius — said by Jocundus to have been a cousin and contemporary of Jesus, blessed with a miraculously long life — that were raised at the council of Mainz in 1049, until the arrival of envoys from the Eastern Emperor, confirmed accounts by a certain Alagrecus and asserting that the birthplace of Servatius was Fenuste, southeast of Damascus. Jocundus conflates Servatius with the exploits of others, linking his to the success of the Franks at Poitiers (in 732) by mistaking him for Saint Servandus (according to Boeren).
At the end of the 12th century the poet Henric van Veldeke wrote a legend about the life of Saint Servatius, based on the earlier story of Gregory of Tours to which he added many more miracles, thus emphasizing Saint Servatius' saintliness.
Servatius may have been the founder of two early Christian churches in the Maastricht-Tongeren diocese: the Basilica of Our Lady in Tongeren, and the Basilica of Our Lady in Maastricht. In the case of Tongeren this traditional claim was supported by excavations in the 1980s, when under the medieval church remains of a 4th century church were identified. Other historic churches in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany were dedicated to the saint, e.g. the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht, the Abbey of Saint Servatius in Grimbergen, and the collegiate church of Saint Servatius in Quedlinburg [1].
According to tradition the saint's remains are buried in the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht in a crypt dating from the 6th century. His tomb in the crypt has been a favored place of pilgrimage for many centuries. Famous visitors include Charlemagne and Pope John Paul II. The 12th century gilded reliquary containing the saint's relics became known as the Noodkist ("Distress Chest") because in times of calamity it was carried around town. A procession with the reliquary shrine still takes place every seven years (Heiligdomsvaart). The "Noodkist" is normally kept in the basilica's treasury, along with other treasures that are associated with the saint (the crozier, a pectoral cross, a chalice, and a symbolic key to heaven).