St Maurice and the Theban Legion
In 287, at Agaunum in the Swiss Alps, a strange massacre took place. It was the murder of a legion of Roman troops, recruited from Egypt, by their fellow soldiers.
St Maurice is said to have been born near Thebes on the Nile River in 250 and to have joined the Roman army. Despite his professed Christianity, he rose in the ranks and ended up in command of a legion, a unit of 6,000 men. In 287 under the command of Emperor Maximian he was ordered to sacrifice to the pagan gods and attack local Christians. He and his unit refused to do so, so they were subject to “decimation”, the execution of every tenth man. They remained steadfast and were eventually all killed.
The story of the Theban Legion and Maurice were extremely popular in the Middle Ages and for a thousand years his spurs and sword were used in the coronation of Holy Roman emperors. Maurice is portrayed in art as an African in armour, sometimes carrying a spear or a flag with a red cross. He is the patron saint of alpine troops, the pope’s Swiss Guards, infantrymen, weavers, dyers, cloth makers and swordsmiths and can be invoked by those suffering from cramp and gout.