[20] In September 2008, certain relics of Maurice were transferred to a new reliquary and rededicated in Schiavi di Abruzzo (Italy). 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. However, when Maximian ordered them to harass some local Christians, they refused. What is known is the date he became a saint and when he first became depicted as black. There is a difference of opinion among researchers as to whether or not the story of the Theban Legion is based on historical fact, and if so, to what extent. The church was constructed in 1856, but was devastated by the winds and flood waters of Hurricane Katrina on 29 August 2005; the copper-plated steeple was blown off the building. The Theban Legion of St. Maurice. Maurice was an officer of the Theban Legion of Emperor Maximian Herculius' army, which was composed of Christians from Upper Egypt. Gude Suckale-Redlefsen’s Mauritius Der heilige Mohr / The Black Saint Maurice is the one I’m talking about here.. Manresa (Spain), Piedmont (Italy), Montalbano Jonico (Italy), Schiavi di Abruzzo (Italy), Stadtsulza (Germany) and Coburg (Germany) have chosen St. Maurice as their patron saint as well. Saint Maurice: martyr, black saint, Knight Commander of the Theban Legion and Patron Saint of the Holy Roman Empire Saint Maurice (Moritz or Mauritius), pictured here with St Elmo, was the Knight Commander of the famous Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd century. A small donation would help us keep this accessible to all. He was the patron saint of several professions, locales, and kingdoms. Maurice is traditionally depicted in full armor, in Italy emblazoned with a red cross. 18th century Baroque sculpture of Saint Maurice on the Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc, which was a part of the Austrian Empire in that time, now the Czech Republic. Saint Maurice became a patron saint of the German Holy Roman Emperors. We do know the approximate dates he became a saint and when he first became … The Black St Maurice (the Knight of the Holy Lance) is regarded as the greatest patron saint of the Holy Roman Empire. When they continued to refuse the Emperor’s order, the remaining soldiers were again divided by ten with every tenth man selected for execution. As a faithful Christian, Maurice led the Theban Legion in refusing to obey the Emperor’s commands. In response to the Theban Christians' refusal to attack fellow Christians, Maximian ordered all the remaining members of his legion to be executed. The Image of the Black in Western Art, Volume II, Part 1, From the We cannot be sure that Maurice was actually of African origin but Maurice is derived from the name “Moor” and he was the leader of the Roman “Theban” Legion. In 1591 Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy arranged the triumphant return of part of the relics of Saint Maurice from the monastery of Agaune in Valais.[19]. Maurice pledged his men’s military allegiance to Rome. Ordering the unit to be punished, Maximian had every tenth soldier killed, a military punishment known as decimation. That depiction originated with the renowned statue in the Cathedral of St. Catherine and St. Maurice in Magdeburg, Germany. In response the Emperor punished the rebellious soldiers by dividing them into groups of ten and selecting one soldier from each group to be killed. Jean Hey. 1580-82. St. Maurice is commemorated throughout churches in modern Germany as a black African dressed as a Roman Solider. St. Maurice began being portrayed as a dark-complexioned African in the 12th century. Saint Maurice gives his name to the town St. Moritz as well as to numerous places called Saint-Maurice in French speaking countries. To them Maurice’s sainthood was well deserved and the Church correctly venerated him. 1320) of Saint Maurice on horseback on Église Saint-Maurice in Soultz-Haut-Rhin, France. Following the refurbishment of Magdeburg’s Cathedral in 1240-1250 after it was damaged by fire, he was portrayed as a black African. Saint Maurice was an important Black saint during the Renaissance, especially as the patron of the Holy Roman Empire Ever since I discovered The Image of the Black in Western Art, Volume II, Part 1, and that the deservedly famous cover image was of the 13th century Saint Maurice … He said that to engage in wanton slaughter was inconceivable to Christian soldiers. When the soldiers continued their defiance of the Emperor’s orders, he, frustrated at their ongoing resistance, had the entire Legion killed. He was gradually promoted until he became the commander of the Theban legion, thus leading approximately a thousand men. Vitalis, Candidus, and Exuperius. Saint Maurice became a patron saint of the German Holy Roman Emperors. Saint Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, or Mauritius; Coptic: Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲙⲱⲣⲓⲥ) 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. His Feast Day is 22 September. Why is Saint Maurice is the patron of Infantrymen? For other uses, see. To that end, in the year 961 of the Incarnation and in the 25th year of his reign, in the presence of all of the nobility, on the vigil of Christmas, the body of St. Maurice was conveyed to him at Regensburg along with the bodies of some of the saint's companions and portions of other saints. Much of what we know about Saint Maurice is shrouded in myth. The earliest version of the Maurice story, and the account upon which all later versions are based, is found in the writings of Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons ( ca .450). St Maurice, Knight Commander of the Roman Theban Legion, was martyred with his whole legion of 6,600 for refusing to attack Christians and became, later, the black patron saint of knighthood, chivalry and the Holy Roman Empire. Buy The Black Saint Maurice by Suckale-Redlefsen, Gude (ISBN: 9780939594160) from Amazon's Book Store. At the same time the Mauritius Kloster in honor of Maurice was founded. In folk culture he has become connected with the legend of the Holy Lance, 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. Several orders of chivalry 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. 32, No. c. 1500". Anonymous Saint Maurice and a Benedictine Pope Germany/Bohemia (1420) Altarpiece Fragment, carved and painted wing The Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive, W.E.B. Cincinnato placed stronger emphasis on the execution scene, which has been brought into the foreground. 250-ca. The sword and spurs of Saint Maurice were part of the regalia used at coronations of the Austro-Hungarianemperors until 1916, and among the most important insignia of the imperial throne. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone! Images of the saint died out in the mid-sixteenth century, undermined, Suckale-Redlefsen suggests, by the developing Atlantic slave trade. The Black St. Maurice (the Knight of the Holy Lance) is regarded as one the great patron saints of the Holy Roman Empire and is one of my favorite personalities in the long history of the African diaspora in Europe. 3, Sep., 1978. During the first millennium, the first black men who existed were exceptional. A black European Saint: The martyrdom of St Maurice in a Missal of Bilzen Anoniem, De Heilige Mauritius, ca 1510, Missaal Liturgique de Bilzen, Koninklijke Bibliotheek Brussel The majority of verses and homilies in this missal were written in honour of Saint Maurice and his Theban martyrs. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. In 961, Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, was building and enriching Magdeburg Cathedral, which he intended for his own tomb. Egyptian saint and leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion, This article is about a Roman Legion leader. This study examines the connections between the black St Maurice of Magdeburg and the Christian kingdoms in Nubia and Ethiopia. Maurice bears the Standard of the Holy Roman Empire Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472 - 1553) was a court painter to the Saxon Elector Friedrich II, the Wise. 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. An important artist of the German Renaissance, he was surpassed in his painting skills only by Albrecht Dürer. "The Martyrdom of Saint Maurice" by Romulo Cincinato. Because of the massacre of the legion. The Black St. Maurice (the Knight of the Holy Lance) is regarded as one the great patron saints of the Holy Roman Empire and is one of my favorite personalities in the long history of the African diaspora in Europe. 250-ca. When they refused to obey repeated orders to do so and … He was from North Africa, and in the thirteenth century in Germany he began to be shown as Black, influenced by the reign of the Emperor Friedrich II (1194–1250). Dorothy Gillerman, reviewing Suckale-Redlefsen 1988 in, Talk:Saint Maurice#Coptic and Oriental Orthodoxy, "St. Maurice in the Lower 9th to host installation, and worshipers have a place", "Archdiocese of New Orleans will sell or lease 13 empty properties, including 7 churches", "9th Ward Improv Opera marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina", Esercito Italiano: I Patroni delle Armi Corpi e Specialità - Gli Alpini, "Reading the painterly text: Clarence Major's 'The Slave Trade: View from the Middle Passage", "Lucas Cranach the Elder and Workshop - Saint Maurice - The Metropolitan Museum of Art", On the image of the Blackamoor in European Heraldry, David Wood, "The Origin of the Cult of St. Maurice", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saint_Maurice&oldid=1006357349, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from August 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2008, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, banner; soldier; soldier being executed with other soldiers, knight; sub-saharan 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, This page was last edited on 12 February 2021, at 13:07. This thirteenth-century black Maurice is a saint and a knight —the most esteemed exemplars of the human in Latin Christian Europe and the perfect marriage of Christian faith and warrior chivalry, seamlessly meshing secular and sacred prowess. He and his fellow legionnaires refused to sacrifice to the gods as ordered by the Emperor to insure victory over rebelling Bagaudae. [1] 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. The sculpted features of Maurice’s face and the coloring unambiguously identify him as a black man, but this is no demeaning … One of the most imposing sculptural monuments to the great black warrior-saint Maurice is found, not surprisingly, at the chief place of his veneration. Saint Maurice, (allegedly died c. 286), was a christian soldier whose alleged martyrdom, with his comrades, inspired a cult still practiced today. Images @ 1979 Menil Foundation, Houston, Texas. They are still venerated there, to the salvation of the homeland.[9]. 174.115.100.93 19:33, 4 October 2019 (UTC) Saint Maurice is represented as a "black man" only in the German tradition. However, according to some historical authorities, he was probably not black and possibly never existed. [6] The monastic accounts themselves do not specifically state that all the soldiers were collectively executed; the twelfth century bishop Otto of Freising wrote in his Chronica de duabus civitatibus[7] that many of the legionaries escaped and only some were executed at Agaunum, though the others were later apprehended and put to death at Galliae Bonna and Colonia Aggripina.[8]. He is also known, especially in Germany, as Saint Mauritius. St Maurice, black patron saint of the Holy Roman Empire. Alternative versions[citation needed] have the legion refusing Maximian's orders only after discovering innocent Christians had inhabited a town they had just destroyed, or that the emperor had them executed when they refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods.