Szent Móric, a birodalom védőszentje: az ereklyék története. Az ezerötszáz éves Saint-Maurice d’Agaune-apátság kincstárának kiállítása a párizsi Louvre-ban
Patron Saint of the Holy Roman Empire: Saint Maurice, the “Black Soldier”. An Overview of the Story of his Relics

Summary/Abstract: The Abbey of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune in the Swiss canton of Valais will celebrate 1500 years of existence in September 2014. It is the oldest functioning monastery in Latin Christendom. To mark this special anniversary, while renovation work is underway on the abbey’s treasury, the chapter has agreed to allow the Louvre to display major pieces -- Merovingian and Carolingian gold and silverwork, including the magnificent sardonyx vase ascribed to Saint Martin, the reliquary casket of Theuderic, or the ewer “of Charlemagne”-- that miraculously withstood ordeals and centuries. This article presents the making of the cult of Saint Maurice and his fellow soldiers. How and why did Maurice, leader of the Theban Legion martyred in Agaunum at the end of the third century for his Christian faith, become the patron saint of the Holy Roman Empire? It is because emperors, kings and dukes alike acknowledged the loyalty and humanity of the “black soldier” and his six thousand legionaries to their lord in Heaven and on earth. Instead of killing the pagan emperor Maximian who ordered the persecution of the Christians, Maurice and his companions sacrificed their lives, and the legion put down the arms. Peaceful resistance was the only humane and reasonable answer to the insane order of mass murder. The relics of the saints were venerated, even by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, as the most powerful protection of the German Empire.

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