Saint Maurice and his companions

Upon learning of their refusal to obey, Maximian, boiling with rage as we have said, ordered that they be decimated. He hoped that the others, struck by terror, would more easily yield to their master's will. Therefore, immediately after this first execution, he renewed his orders to compel those who remained to pursue the Christians. As soon as this new decree was made known to the Thebans, and they learned that they were to be force Thébains Roman legion composed of Christians from Egypt. d to carry out sacrilegious persecutions, a great tumult arose in the camp; all cried out that they would never lend themselves to this impious ministry; that they held and would always hold idols and their infamous worship in abomination; that they would always remain faithful to their holy and divine religion; and finally, that they worshipped only the one and eternal God, resolved to suffer anything rather than betray the Christian faith. Informed of this response, Maximian, more cruel in his outbursts than a wild beast, resumed the instincts of his fury; he ordered that they be decimated a second time and that those who remained be forced to submit to the law they had despised. This bloodthirsty order was thus brought to the camp for the second time; immediately lots were cast, and the tenth of the remainder of the legion was struck down. Meanwhile, the other soldiers whom the sword had spared exhorted one another to persevere in their generous resolution.

Their faith found a powerful goad in the courage of Saint M aurice, whom saint Maurice Martyr of the Theban Legion whose Acts were written by Eucherius. tradition names as their leader, of Sa int Exuperius saint Exupère Camp steward and companion of Maurice. , the camp steward, and of Candidu Candide Provost of the soldiers and companion of Maurice. s, the provost of the soldiers. Maurice exhorted them all and stirred their faith, showing them the example of the martyrs, their brothers-in-arms; he made them all aspire to the honor of dying, if necessary, for the respect of divine laws and their oath to Christ; they must follow, he told them, the brothers who had just preceded them to heaven. Thus, a glorious passion for martyrdom was kindled in these blessed warriors. Animated therefore by their leaders, they sent a deputation to Maximian, who was still agitated by fits of senseless fury. Their response, full of both piety and courage, was conceived as follows:

“Emperor, we are your soldiers, but at the same time, and we glory in confessing it openly, we are the servants of God. To you we owe military service; to Him the homage of an innocent life. From you we receive the pay for our labors and our fatigues; from Him we hold the gift of life. That is why we cannot, O Emperor, obey you to the point of denying the God who is the creator of all things, our master and our creator, who is also yours, whether you wish it or not. Do not reduce us to the sad obligation of offending Him, and you will find us as we have always been, ready to follow all your orders. Otherwise, know that we shall obey Him rather than you. We offer you our arms against any enemy you wish to strike, whoever they may be, but we hold that it is a crime to stain them with the blood of the innocent. These hands know how to fight against enemies and against the impious; they do not know how to slaughter friends of God and brothers. We have not forgotten that it is to protect our fellow citizens, and not to strike them, that we have taken up arms. We have always fought for justice, for piety, for the salvation of the innocent. Until now, in the midst of the dangers we have faced, we have sought no other reward. We have fought out of respect for the faith we promised you; but how could we keep it, if we refused to our God the one we gave to Him? Our first oaths were made to God; and it is only in the second place that we swore to be faithful to you. Do not count on our fidelity to these second oaths if we were to violate the first. It is Christians you order to be sought out to be punished; but we are Christians, and here we are; your wishes are satisfied, and you no longer need to look for others; you have in us men who confess God the Father, the author of all things, and who believe in Jesus Christ His Son as God. We have seen the companions of our labors and our dangers fall by the sword, and their blood has splashed even upon us. Yet we have not wept for the death, the cruel massacre of these blessed brothers; we have not even pitied their fate; on the contrary, we have congratulated them on their happiness, we have accompanied their sacrifice with the outbursts of our joy, because they were found worthy to suffer for their Lord and their God. As for us, we are not rebels whom the imperious necessity of living has thrown into revolt; we are not armed against you by despair, always so powerful in danger. We have weapons in our hands, and we do not resist. We would rather die than deal death, perish innocent than live guilty. If you still make laws against us, if you have new orders to give, new sentences to pronounce, fire, torture, the sword do not frighten us; we are ready to die. We openly confess that we are Christians and that we cannot persecute Christians.”

Upon receiving this response, Maximian understood that he had to contend with hearts inflexible in the faith of Christ. Therefore, despairing of triumphing over their generous constancy, he resolved to put the entire legion to death in a single stroke. Numerous battalions of soldiers received the order to surround it and massacre it. Arriving before the blessed legion, the impious men sent by the emperor drew their swords against these thousands of Saints whom the love of life had not caused to flee from death. The iron harvested them in every rank, and not a complaint, not a murmur escaped them.

They had laid down their arms; some stretched out their necks, others presented their throats to their persecutors; all offered their defenseless bodies to the executioners. Despite their number and their powerful armor, they did not allow themselves to be carried away by the desire to make the justice of their cause triumph by the sword. A single thought animated them: the God they confessed had allowed himself to be led to death without a murmur; like a lamb, he had not opened his mouth. They likewise, the sheep of the Lord, allowed themselves to be torn apart by furious wolves. The earth was covered with the corpses of these holy victims, and their noble blood flowed there in long streams. Never, outside of battle, did the rage of a barbarian pile up so many human remains? Never did cruelty strike so many victims at once with a single sentence, even when punishing villains? As for them, they were punished, despite their innocence and their multitude, although crimes are often left unavenged because of the great number of the guilty. Thus the odious cruelty of a tyrant sacrificed a whole people of Saints, who disdained the goods of this present life in the hope of future happiness. Thus perished this legion truly worthy of the angels. It is for this reason that our faith shows them to us today reunited with the legions of angels, and singing eternally with them in heaven to the Lord, the God of hosts.

As for th e martyr Vict martyr Victor Roman veteran martyred with the legion. or, he was not part of this legion; he was not even a soldier anymore, having obtained, after long service, his veteran's discharge. But during a journey he was making, he fell, without knowing it, into the midst of the executioners who, joyful over their spoils, were indulging in the orgies of a great feast. They invited him to share in the joys of the celebration with them. When he had learned from these wretches, in the exaltation of their drunkenness, the cause that brought them together, he refused with horror and despised the feast and the guests. He was then asked if he was a Christian; he had barely answered that he was and would always be, when they immediately threw themselves upon him and massacred him. Thus struck down in the same place as the other martyrs, he shared with them both their death and their honors. Of this great number of Saints, only four names are known to us: Maurice, Exuperius, Candidus, and Victor.

A stained-glass window in Strasbourg Cathedral depicts Saint Maurice dressed as a knight. He is painted holding a cruciferous banner, a large sword, and the crown of thorns. In the collection of Saints at the Cabinet des Estampes in Paris, he is seen sometimes depicted on horseback; sometimes at the head of the officers of his legion; sometimes with his brothers-in-arms, refusing to sacrifice to idols, then massacred by order of the emperor.

## CULT AND RELICS. The bodies of the blessed martyrs of Agaunum were discovered through revelation t o Saint Theodo saint Théodore Bishop who discovered the relics of the martyrs. re, Bishop of Sion in Valais. He had a basilica erected in their honor, backed on one side by an enormous rock. Now, while it was being built, a miracle occurred that we cannot pass over in silence. Among the workers who had gathered for this great task at the bishop's summons, there was one who was still a pagan. One Sunday, when the others had left their work because of the solemnity of the day, he remained alone to continue his labor. Suddenly, in the midst of this solitude where he found himself, the Saints, surrounded by light, seized him and threw him to the ground to subject him to the punishment for his impiety. He saw with his own eyes the crowd of Martyrs; he felt the blows with which they struck him and heard their reproaches, because he alone, on the Lord's day, had failed to attend church, and, furthermore, had dared, though a gentile, to work on the construction of a sacred edifice. These punishments and reproaches were, on the part of the Saints, a merciful kindness; for the worker, trembling and dismayed, immediately wished to ask that the name of salvation be invoked upon him and became a Christian. Among the miracles of the holy Martyrs, we must not forget a fact that had repercussions, and which everyone knew. A lady, wife of Quincius, a person of distinguished rank, was afflicted with a paralysis that had taken away the use of her feet. She begged her husband to have her taken to Agaunum, although the distance was considerable. Upon her arrival, servants carried her in their arms to the basilica of the holy Martyrs; she returned on foot to her inn. And today, in those same limbs that death had already struck, she bears everywhere the testimony of the miracle that healed her.

To the miracles recounted by Saint Eucher, we shall add that which happened to Saint Ma saint Martin Spiritual model for Aquilin. rtin. This great prelate, who held a singular devotion to our glorious martyrs, went to Agaune to try to obtain some of their relics; but having been unable to obtain any from the monks who possessed this place, he went to the spot where they had endured death. And there, after having offered a very fervent prayer, he took a knife and removed a piece of earth in the shape of a crown, and immediately, by an admirable prodigy! blood issued from it in abundance, which he received in a vessel brought expressly for that purpose, and he left a portion of it at Agaune with that same knife; he brought the rest to Tours, and subsequently distributed it to several churches, particularly to his cathedral and to that of Angers. He kept only a small vial for himself, which he always carried thereafter out of devotion, and with which he wished to be buried.

The memory of Saint Maurice and his companions has always been very famous in the Church. The faithful are accustomed, in wars against the enemies of the faith, to invoke him along with Saint George, to obtain victory through the power of their intercession.

The Greeks also had a martyr by the name of Saint Maurice, who suffered in Apamea on July 4th, and whose combat Metaphrastes described. Many have confused him with the one of whom we speak, and Cardinal Baronius confesses that he had followed this opinion; but he retracted it in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology, on September 22nd.

The cult of Saint Maurice and his companions, born in Valais under the eyes of the witnesses of their martyrdom, passed into the Gauls towards the end of the 4th century; it later extended to Italy; today it is known and spread throughout all of Catholicism. Already around the year 390, Saint Theodore, Bishop of Sion, sent bones of the Thebans to Saint Victricius, Bishop of Rouen. Saint Germain, Bishop of Auxerre, had a church built in 420, in his episcopal city, in honor of Saint Maurice and his companions.

The parish churches raised under the patronage of Saint Maurice and his illustrious brothers-in-arms, whether in neighboring dioceses or abroad, are innumerable; there are few churches in Switzerland where one does not see, if only by the statue of Maurice or the sign that recalls him, the trefoil cross that bears his name appearing everywhere; it is seen painted on the vaults of sanctuaries, on old flags, engraved on the coats of arms of cities, and even on ancient and modern coins that have survived until recent times.

The current church of the Abbey of Saint-Maurice in Valais, into which the relics of the Theban martyrs were solemnly transferred amidst an immense gathering of people, possesses:

1. A large silver-plated reliquary, adorned with numerous precious stones, containing several parts of the body of Saint Maurice; 2. two busts, one in si lver, contain saint Maurice Martyr of the Theban Legion whose Acts were written by Eucherius. ing the head of Saint Candidus, one of the lieutenants of Saint Maurice; the other in gilded silver, surmounted by the arms of the House of Savoy, contains the head of Saint Victor, a Roman veteran martyred with the Thebans; 3. an equestrian statue, fifty centimeters tall, in silver, representing Saint Maurice; 4. two silver arms, enriched with precious stones, one of which contains a rib and a bone of Saint Bernard of Menthon; the other, the relics of Saint Innocent, a Theban martyr; 5. two silver-plated reliquaries, smaller than that of Saint Maurice. One contains bones of the Theban martyrs; the other, the relics of the children of Saint Sigismund, patron of the parish; 6. Two silver cups, containing relics of Saint Severinus, first abbot of Saint-Maurice (478), of the Thebans, of Saint Francis de Sales, etc.; 7. an agate vase made of a single piece, a gift from Charlemagne, Greek work of the pagan era, highly noted by co nnoisseurs, Charlemagne Emperor of the Franks and uncle of Saint Folquin. containing earth soaked with the blood of the Theban martyrs; 8. an ewer, Arab work no less precious than the agate, also a gift from the Emperor Charlemagne; it is enamel on gold, adorned with superb sapphires; it also contains blood of our Martyrs; 9. the ring of Saint Maurice, a true ring of the Roman knights from the 3rd t o the 4th century; it i anneau de saint Maurice Rough sapphire set in gold belonging to the saint. s a raw sapphire mounted on gold; 10. a reliquary containing one hundred and twenty-seven teeth of the Theban martyrs, and another containing relics of the leader of the legion.

The relics of these glorious martyrs were distributed in various places of Christendom. The Diocese of Troyes possesses a portion. The church of the Abbey of Larrivour had a reliquary in which were remains of Saint Maurice and his companions. This reliquary is currently in the church of Lusigny, on the wall of the Saint-Nicolas chapel, on the Gospel side. A relic of Saint Maurice is also in one of the reliquaries that come from the Abbey of Montbéramey and which are displayed in the parish church.

Saint Maurice is the patron of several parishes in the Diocese of Nevers. The Monastery of the Visitation of Nevers possesses the body of Saint Ursus, one of the companions of Saint Maurice.

In 1857, a military society, under the name of Saint-Maurice, was founded in Le Mans by retired officers. Its goal was to come to the aid of those of its members who, due to illness, found themselves in a difficult position; to have the final duties rendered to them in a proper manner; to assist their widows and orphans; but it no longer exists.

This authentic history of the martyrdom of Saint Maurice and his companions was written one hundred and fifty years after their d eath by Sain saint Eucher Bishop of Lyon and author of the account of the martyrdom. t Eucher, Bishop of Lyon, who had their acts and the account of Isaac, Bishop of Geneva: Isaac had been instructed by Theodore, Bishop of Octodurum. We have reproduced this monument in its entirety, one of the most beautiful of Christian antiquity, as it is found in the Acts of the Martyrs, translated and published by the Reverend Benedictine Fathers of the Congregation of France, Vol. III, p. 20. To complete this biography, we have used a Notice on the city of Saint-Maurice and its abbey, by Canon Beck; the Hagiologio Nisernaise, by Mgr Crosnier, and the Saints of Troyes, by Abbé Dafer.