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ST MAURICE [or MAURITIUS] (d. c. 286)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 909 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MAURICE [or See also:MAURITIUS] (d. c. 286)  , an See also:early See also:Christian See also:martyr, who, with his companions, is commemorated by the See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:Church on the 22nd of See also:September . The See also:oldest See also:form of his See also:story is found in the Passio ascribed to Eucherius, See also:bishop of See also:Lyons, c . 45o, who relates how the " Theban " See also:legion commanded by See also:Mauritius was sent to See also:north See also:Italy to reinforce the See also:army of Maximinian . Maximinian wished to use them in persecuting the Christians, but as they themselves were of this faith, they refused, and for this, after having been twice decimated, the legion was exterminated at Octodurum (Martigny) near See also:Geneva . In See also:late versions this See also:legend was See also:expanded and varied, the martyrdom was connected with a refusal to take See also:part in a See also:great See also:sacrifice ordered at Octodurum and the name of Exsuperius was added to that of Mauritius . See also:Gregory of See also:Tours (c . 539—593) speaks of a See also:company of the same legion which suffered at See also:Cologne . The See also:Magdeburg Centuries, in spite of Mauritius being the See also:patron See also:saint of Magdeburg, declared the whole legend fictitious; J . A. du Bordien La Legion thebeenne (See also:Amsterdam, 17o5); J . J . See also:Hottinger in Helvetische Kirchengeschichte (See also:Zurich, 1708) ; and F . W .

Rettberg, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands (See also:

Gottingen, 1845–1848) have also demonstrated its untrustworthiness, while the Bollandlsts, De Rivaz and Joh . See also:Friedrich uphold it . Apart from the a priori improbability of a whole legion being martyred, the difficulties are that in 286 Christians everywhere throughout the See also:empire were not molested, that at no later date have we See also:evidence of the presence of Maximinian in the See also:Valais, and that none of the writers nearest to the event (See also:Eusebius, Lactantius, See also:Orosius, Sulpicius See also:Severus) know anything of it . It is of course quite possible that isolated cases of See also:officers being put to See also:death for their faith occurred during Maximinian's reign, and on some such cases the legend may have grown up during the See also:century and a See also:half between Maximinian and Eucherius . The cult of St See also:Maurice and the Theban legion is found in See also:Switzerland (where two places See also:bear the name in Valais, besides St See also:Moritz in See also:Grisons), along the See also:Rhine, and in north Italy . The See also:foundation of the See also:abbey of St Maurice (Agaunum) in the Valais is usually ascribed to See also:Sigismund of See also:Burgundy (515) . See also:Relics of the saint are preserved here and at See also:Brieg and See also:Turin .

End of Article: ST MAURICE [or MAURITIUS] (d. c. 286)
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