St. Moritz
Country Switzerland Canton Graubünden District Maloja 46°30′N 9°50′E / 46.5°N 9.833°E / 46.5; 9.833Coordinates: 46°30′N 9°50′E / 46.5°N 9.833°E / 46.5; 9.833
Population	5,202 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density	181 /km2 (470 /sq mi)
Area	28.69 km2 (11.08 sq mi)[2]
Elevation	1,822 m (5,978 ft)
Postal code	7500
SFOS number	3787
Localities	Champfèr
Surrounded by	Bever, Celerina/Schlarigna, Samedan, Silvaplana
Twin towns	Bariloche (Argentina), Kutchan (Japan), Vail (USA)
Website	www.stmoritz.ch SFSO statistics
St. Moritz
Location of St. Moritz

St. Moritz (German: Sankt Moritz; Italian: San Maurizio; Romansh:  San Murezzan (help·info)) is a resort town in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. It is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. The highest summit in the Eastern Alps, the Piz Bernina, lies a few kilometres south of the town.

History[link]

Lake St. Moritz

Votive offerings, swords, and needles from the Bronze Age, were found at the base of the springs in St. Moritz, which indicate that the Celts had already discovered them.

St. Moritz is first mentioned around 1137-39 as ad sanctum Mauricium.^[3] The town was named after Saint Maurice, a Coptic Orthodox, and Roman Catholic saint.

Pilgrims travelled to Saint Mauritius, the church of the springs, where they drank from the blessed, bubbling waters of the Mauritius springs in the hopes of being healed. In 1519, the Medici pope, Leo X, promised full absolution to anyone making a pilgrimage to the church of the springs. In the 16th century, the first scientific treatises about the St. Moritz mineral springs were written. In 1535, Paracelsus, the great practitioner of nature cures, spent some time in St. Moritz.

Baths in St. Moritz, ca. 1881

Although it received some visitors during the summer, the origins of the winter resort only date back to September 1864, when St. Moritz hotel pioneer, Johannes Badrutt, made a wager with four British summer guests: that they should return in winter and if it was not to their liking, he would pay for the cost of their journey from London and back. If they found St. Moritz attractive in winter, he would invite them to stay as his guests for as long as they wished.^[4] This marked not only the start of winter tourism in St. Moritz but the start of winter tourism in the whole of the Alps. The first tourist office in Switzerland was established the same year in the town. St. Moritz developed rapidly in the late nineteenth century and the first electric light in Switzerland was installed in 1878 at the Kulm Hotel and the first curling tournament on the continent held in 1880.^[4] The first European Ice-Skating Championships were held at St. Moritz in 1882 and first golf tournament in the Alps held in 1889. The first bob run and bob race was held in 1890 and by 1896 St. Moritz became the first town in the Alps to install electric trams and opened the Palace Hotel.^[4] In 1906, a horse race was held on snow (1906) and on the frozen lake (1907). The first ski school in Switzerland was established in St. Moritz in 1929.^[4]

St. Moritz in January 1931

In 1928 St. Moritz hosted the 1928 Winter Olympic Games and the stadium still stands today. It later hosted the 1948 Winter Olympic Games. St. Moritz has hosted over 20 FIBT World Championships, three FIS Alpine World Ski Championships (1934/1974/2003) and over 40 Engadin Skimarathons since 1969. It has also hosted many other events since, including some unlikely ones on the frozen lake in the 1970s and 1980s such as a golf tournament, (1979), a polo tournament (every year in February starting in 1985) and cricket (1989).^[4] St. Moritz has also been the venue for many Sailing and Windsurfing World Championships.

Since the early 1980s St. Moritz is also promoted and known as Top of the World. The expression was registered as a trademark by the tourist office in 1987.

Between 9-12 June 2011, St. Moritz was the site of the Bilderberg Group conference, an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of approximately 120 to 140 guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are people of influence.

Geography[link]

St. Moritz has an area, as of 2006^[update], of 28.7 square kilometers (11.1 sq mi). Of this area, 28.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 19.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 8.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (44.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).^[5]

The municipality is located in the Oberengadin sub-district of the Maloja district. It consists of the settlements of St. Moritz-dorf (elevation 1,830 meters (6,000 ft)), Bad (ele. 1,775 meters (5,823 ft)), and Champfèr (ele. 1,825 meters (5,988 ft)) as well as the village section of Suvretta.

Sport[link]

Cartier Polo World Cup 2008

St. Moritz has been the host city for the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics. It also hosted the 1934, 1974 and 2003 Alpine Skiing World Championships. It is one of three cities that have hosted the Winter Olympic Games twice, the others being Innsbruck, Austria and Lake Placid, New York in the United States. Additionally, it has hosted the FIBT World Championships (bobsleigh and skeleton racing) a record 21 times. Since 1985, St. Moritz has hosted the Cartier Polo World Cup on Snow; an annual high-goal tournament featuring many of the world's finest teams. In its current form, the tournament lasts four days and is played on a specially marked field located on the frozen lake.^[6]

St. Moritz is extremely popular in the summer months as an altitude training base for distance athletes, particularly cyclists, runners, and race walkers. Its popularity extends to the altitude, weather, world class athletics track, and availability of paths and trails in the area.

In 1904 the oldest and worlds last remaining natural bob run was opened. The 1722 meter long ice chanel - also known as the world biggest "ice sculpture" - is built every winter from ground up with only snow and water. The bob run hosted numerous world championships and was used in both olympic wintergames. In the early 30s some members of the bob club, started taking guests for taxi rides along, today with slightly modified racing bobs.

For the 1928 games, the cross-country skiing and the cross-country skiing part of the Nordic combined events took place around the hills of St. Moritz.^[7] Twenty years later, the city again the cross-country skiing, the cross-country skinng part of the Nordic combined, and the ice hockey events took place in St. Moritz.^[8]

In addition to the above sports, St. Moritz is also well known as a destination for sailing. It is the host venue for the annual St. Moritz Match Race held on lake St. Moritz. The St. Moritz Match Race event is part of the prestigious World Match Racing Tour which covers 3 continents. The event draws the world's best sailing teams to St. Moritz in a gladiatorial battle of nerve and skill on the water. The identical supplied (BLU-26) boats are raced two at a time in an on the water dogfight which tests the sailors and skippers to the limits of their physical abilities. Points accrued count towards the World Match Racing Tour and a place in the final event, with the overall winner taking the title ISAF World Match Racing Tour Champion. Match racing is an ideal sport for spectators in St. Moritz. Racing in such close proximity (approx. 15m) to the Lake St. Moritz shoreline provides excellent heart of the action viewing for the audience.

Tourism[link]

World Championships St. Moritz 1948

St. Moritz, due to its favorable location, enjoys over 300 days of sunshine a year. Every winter this alpine village hosts the "White Turf" horse race on the frozen Lake St. Moritz attended by the international Upper class.

Popular pastimes include skiing, snowboarding, and hiking, and nearby there is also the world famous Cresta Run toboggan course.

The year-round population is 5600, with some 3000 seasonal employees supporting hotels and rental units with a total of 13,000 beds.

Main sights[link]

Plazza da Scoula and St. Moritz library

• The Segantini Museum: dedicated to Giovanni Segantini, a painter that lived the last five years of his life in Engadine. The Segantini Museum is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.^[9]
• The bobsled run: a very rare natural bob sleigh typically running by mid December each year
• Viewing the glacier landscape: there are a number of notable vistas. Much can be seen by descending from Diavolezza to the Morteratsch Glacier.
• The 3300 metres high Piz Corvatsch with its ice cave and its eight-kilometer long ski slope down to St.Moritz-Bad.

Climate[link]

St Moritz has an Alpine climate climate with cold, moderately snowy winters and mild, wet summers.

Demographics[link]

Population[link]

St. Moritz has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 5,202.^[1] As of 2008^[update], 38.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.^[11] Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of 4.9%.^[5]

As of 2000^[update], the gender distribution of the population was 45.4% male and 54.6% female.^[12] The age distribution, as of 2000^[update], in St. Moritz is; 423 children or 7.6% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 502 teenagers or 9.0% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 960 people or 17.2% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,055 people or 18.9% are between 30 and 39, 864 people or 15.5% are between 40 and 49, and 820 people or 14.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 532 people or 9.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 289 people or 5.2% are between 70 and 79, there are 121 people or 2.2% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 23 people or 0.4% who are 90 and older.^[11]

Politics[link]

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 34.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (24.5%), the SP (22.4%), and the CVP (17%).^[5]

Education[link]

In St. Moritz about 65.8% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).^[5]

Employment[link]

St. Moritz has an unemployment rate of 1.38%. As of 2005^[update], there were 73 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 10 businesses involved in this sector. 900 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 55 businesses in this sector. 3,501 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 468 businesses in this sector.^[5] The Badrutts Palace Hotel (Five Star) has a staff of 520 persons and is the biggest employer in St.Moritz.

Languages[link]

Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (58.8%), with Italian being second most common (21.8%), and Portuguese being third (6.6%).^[5] Originally, the entire population spoke the Upper-Engadin Romansh dialect of Puter. Due to increasing trade with the outside world, Romansh usage began to decline. In 1880, only 50.2% spoke Romansh as a first language. Romansh lost ground to both German and Italian. In 1900, 31% of the population spoke Italian as a first language, and in 1910, it was about the same. In the following years, the percentage of Romansh and Italian speakers both decreased against German speakers. In 1941, only 20% spoke Romansh, and in 1970 it was 8%. In 2000, only 13% of the population of St. Moritz even understood Romansh.

Transportation[link]

Rhaetian Railway operates trains to St. Moritz (Rhaetian Railway station). The Glacier Express and Bernina Express trains also stop at this station.

In popular culture[link]

Norman Foster's Chesa Futura in St. Moritz

• St. Moritz is featured in the opening scenes of The Man Who Knew Too Much, a 1934 thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
• St. Moritz was mentioned in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger as a skiing resort. Also mentioned in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.
• In the Ian Fleming novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service the villain Blofeld uses Piz Gloria, a mountaintop facility in a resort near St. Moritz, as his base of operations. The real Piz Gloria is in another part of Switzerland.
• St. Moritz is mentioned in the 1969 Peter Sarstedt hit "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)", where the song describes a Euro jet-setter who flies to St. Moritz during the winter.
• St. Moritz is mentioned in the popular comedic play "Private Lives", by Noel Coward.

See also[link]

• Glacier Express
• Bernina Express
• Swiss Alps
• Hotel St. Moritz in New York, named after the city

Gallery[link]

• 

  Badrutt Palace hotel at night.

References[link]

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.

External links[link]

• Media related to St. Moritz at Wikimedia Commons
• http://www.stmoritz.ch Official website
• http://www.stmoritz-gemeinde.ch (German) (French) (Italian) (Romansh) Municipality
• St. Moritz in Romansh, German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

v t e Municipalities in the district of Maloja, Switzerland Bever Bregaglia Celerina/Schlarigna Madulain Pontresina La Punt-Chamues-ch Samedan St. Moritz S-chanf Sils im Engadin/Segl Silvaplana Zuoz Graubünden Districts of Canton Graubünden Municipalities of the canton of Graubünden

v t e Olympic venues in cross-country skiing 1924: Stade Olympique de Chamonix 1928: Around the hills of St. Moritz 1932: Lake Placid 1936: Große Olympiaschanze 1948: Around the hills of St. Moritz 1952: Holmenkollen National Arena 1956: Lo Stadio della neve 1960: McKinney Creek Stadium 1964: Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze 1968: Autrans 1972: Makomanai Cross-country site 1976: Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze 1980: Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex Cross Country Biathlon Center 1984: Igman, Veliko Polje 1988: Canmore Nordic Centre 1992: Les Saisies 1994: Birkebeineren Ski Stadium 1998: Snow Harp 2002: Soldier Hollow 2006: Pragelato Plan 2010: Whistler Olympic Park 2014: Sochi Biathlon & Ski Complex

v t e Olympic venues in ice hockey 1920: Palais de Glace d'Anvers 1924: Stade Olympique de Chamonix 1928: St. Moritz Olympic Ice Rink 1932: Olympic Arena (final), Olympic Stadium 1936: Olympia-Kunsteisstadion (final), Riessersee 1948: Kulm, Olympic Stadium (final), Suvretta 1952: Dæhlenenga, Jordal Amfi (final), Kadettangen, Lillestrøm stadion, Marienlyst stadion 1956: Apollonino Stadium, Lo Stadio del ghiaccio 1960: Blyth Arena (final), Squaw Valley Olympic Skating Rink 1964: Messehalle, Olympiahalle 1968: La Patinoire Municipale, Le Stade de Glace 1972: Makomanai Ice Arena (final), Tsukisamu Indoor Skating Rink 1976: Messehalle, Olympiahalle (final) 1980: Olympic Center 1984: Skenderija II Hall, Zetra Ice Hall (final) 1988: Father David Bauer Olympic Arena, Olympic Saddledome (final), Stampede Corral 1992: Méribel Ice Palace 1994: Gjøvik Olympic Cavern Hall, Håkon Hall (final) 1998: Aqua Wing, Big Hat (final) 2002: E Center (final), Peaks Ice Arena 2006: Palasport Olimpico (final), Torino Esposizioni 2010: Canada Hockey Place (final), UBC Thunderbird Arena 2014: Bolshoy Ice Dome (final), Shayba Arena 2018: Union Hockey Centre (final), Youngdong College Gymnasium

v t e Olympic venues in Nordic combined 1924: Le Tremplin Olympique du Mont, Stade Olympique de Chamonix 1928: Around the hills of St. Moritz, Olympiaschanze 1932: Intervales Ski-Hill, Lake Placid 1936: Große Olympiaschanze 1948: Around the hills of St. Moritz, Olympiaschanze 1952: Holmenkollen National Arena 1956: Lo Stadio della neve, Trampolino Italia 1960: McKinney Creek Stadium, Papoose Peak Jumps 1964: Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze 1968: Autrans 1972: Makomanai Cross-country site, Miyanomori Jumping Hill 1976: Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze 1980: Intervales Ski-Hill, Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex Cross Country Biathlon Center 1984: Igman Olympic Jumps; Igman, Veliko Polje 1988: Canada Olympic Park, Canmore Nordic Centre 1992: Tremplin du Praz 1994: Birkebeineren Skistadion, Lysgårdsbakkene Ski Jumping Arena 1998: Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium, Snow Harp 2002: Soldier Hollow, Utah Olympic Park 2006: Stadio del Trampolino, Pragelato Plan 2010: Whistler Olympic Park 2014: Biathlon & Ski Complex, RusSki Gorki Jumping Center

Saint Maurice and companions
Statue of St. Maurice
Martyrs
Born	3rd century. Thebes, Egypt
Died	287 Agaunum, Switzerland
Honored in	Coptic Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church
Canonized	Pre-Congregation for the Causes of Saints
Major shrine	Abbaye de Saint-Maurice d'Agaune (until 961), Cathedral of Magdeburg (961-present)
Feast	September 22 (West), October 5 = Thout 5 (East)
Attributes	banner; soldier; soldier being executed with other soldiers, knight; indigenous 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 Sardinian Order of Saint Maurice
Patronage	against cramps; alpine troops;[1]Appenzell Innerrhoden;[2] armies;[1] armorers; Burgundians; Carolingian dynasty;[2] Austria; clothmakers; cramps; dyers; gout; infantrymen;[1] Lombards; Merovingians;[2] Piedmont, Italy; Pontifical Swiss Guards;[1] Saint-Maurice-en-Valais; St. Moritz;[2]Sardinia;[1] Savoyards;[2] soldiers; Stadtsulza, Germany; swordsmiths; weavers; Holy Roman Emperors [1]

Saint Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, or Mauritius) 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. He was the patron saint of several professions, locales, and kingdoms. He is also a highly revered saint in the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Biography[link]

According to the hagiographical material, the legion, entirely composed of Christians, had been called from Thebes in Egypt to Gaul to assist Maximian to defeat a revolt by the bagaudae.^[3] However, when Maximian ordered them to harass some local Christians, they refused and Maximian ordered the unit punished. Every tenth soldier was killed, a military punishment known as decimation. More orders followed, they still refused, partly because of Maurice's encouragement, and a second decimation was ordered. In response to their refusal to use violence against fellow Christians, Maximian ordered all the remaining members of the 6,666 unit executed. The place in Switzerland where this occurred, known as Agaunum, is now Saint Maurice-en-Valais, site of the Abbey of Saint Maurice-en-Valais.

So reads the earliest account of their martyrdom, contained in the public letter Eucherius, bishop of Lyon (c. 434–450), addressed to his fellow bishop Salvius. Alternate versions^{[citation needed]} have the legion refusing Maximian's orders only after discovering a town they had just destroyed had been inhabited by innocent Christians, or that the emperor had them executed when they refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods.

Bertran de la Farge asserted in La Croix occitane (2000) that the original Occitan cross, located somewhere in the marquisate of Provence, probably Venasque, could be a mixture of the Constantinople cross and the Coptic cross,^[4] which was brought to Provence by monks and maybe also through the influence of a historical Saint Maurice.

Historicity and evidence[link]

This article's section called "Historicity" needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010)

Supportive evidence[link]

There are four pieces of historical evidence that support the story.

1. A military papyrus requisiting supplies for troops of a legion's size embarking overseas from southern Egypt, at precisely the same time as the story was later considered to take place.
2. Coins from Alexandria that also coincided with the same time period, that were minted in a style used only when troops for a new legion were leaving port.
3. A roman army list called the Novita Dignitatum.
4. A passage from the account of the martyr Maximilian which shows the existence of Theban Christian legionairies in the same units as mentioned in the Novita Dignitatum.^[5]

A Greek hagiography stated that the soldiers were baptized by Zabdes, bishop of Jerusalem, which could have fit if their corps had been raised to fight in the contemporary war with Persia, and would also fit with the fact that roman military doctrine held that new legions should be used to replace experienced units in order to move them to the front (thus leaving the newly raised Theban corps in the rear closer to Jerusalem).^[5]

The Papyrus[link]

The military papyrus was found at Panopolis on the Nile just north of Thebaid district, and it contained a receipt of delivery and an auditor's note mentioning requisition and receipt. The letter is dated "In the Sixth year of our Lord the Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Probus Pius Augustus, Tubi sixteenth" (January 13 282AD), and the delivery was for 38,496 modii of bread (estimate about 577,440 pounds, or 384,490 daily rations, which would sustain a legion for about three months) to be delivered to Panopolis to the "mobilized soldiers and sailors".^[5]

The papyrus did not call them legionaries, however, which may have been due to the fact that native Egyptians were forbidden from serving in legions, but were allowed to serve in auxiliary corps during that time period. The papyrus also strangely mentioned the grain as being requisitioned as a tax by the government (ordinarily the roman government paid a fixed price from sellers to buy grain for its soldiers, as opposed to taking the food without payment).^[5]

The coins[link]

An eagle flanked with banners was depicted on Alexandrian coins during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Septimus Severus, and Aurelian, and on no other occasion prior to 282. These coins were minted precisely during the times when troops were raised to create (respectively) the new legions I and III Italica, nova classis Libica, I II and III Parthica, I Illyricorum with IV Martia. No other legion is known to have been created from Egypt during this time, leaving historians only with the account from monasteries about the creation of the supposed Theban legion during this time.^[5]

The Notitia Dignitatum[link]

The Notitia Dignitatum recorded four legions from Thebes, plus reference to a fifth 'legio Thebeorum' and a 'Thebei Palatini', which was the only eastern force in the west after Constantine and remarkably had replaced the 'Praetoriani' (i.e. the Praetorian guard) whom he had disbanded, which is an impressive note in consideration of whether Constantine (the first Christian emperor) knew of the story of the martyred soldiers from Thebes. The four legions from Thebes were 'I Maximiana Thebeorum', 'II Flavia Constantia Thebeorum', 'III Diocletiana Thebeorum', and 'I Flavia Constantia' (the first and the third bear the names of tetrachs in 293, the second and fourth bear Constantine's name and were listed serving in Thebaid in the late fourth century).^[5]

The names of these legions meant they were personal bodyguards for the pagan tetrarchs (I Flavia Constantia may have formerly been IV Galeriana Thebeorum). It is not clear why Theban troops were chosen for the imperial bodyguard, although Donald O'Reilly hypothesized that if they were in fact Christian units, this may have been as a result of the fact that Christians refused to murder and every single emperor in the previous century had been killed by his own soldiers.^[5] The fact that they were listed as bodyguards for the tetrach corresponds exactly with the further evidence below.

Maximilian[link]

The martyr Maximilian was executed in North Africa in 295, for refusing Diocletian's conscription to the army. In the acta of his martyrdom, there is a record of his trial which contains the following exchange at one point:

Maximilian: "I will not accept the seal. I already have the seal of Christ who is my God." [to which the judge responded] "In the sacred bodyguard of our Lords Diocletian and Maximian, Constantius and Maximus, there are soldiers who are christians, and they serve."^[5]

Counterarguments[link]

One of the strongest arguments against the story is the fact the Romans did not execute entire legions for insubordination.^[5] Decimation had not been used to discipline a Roman legion for centuries^{[citation needed]}: the previous documented execution of this sentence was in the reign of Galba, who ordered this done to a formation of marines that Nero had formed into a legion, and who demanded an eagle and standards. The monastic accounts themselves do not specifically state that all the soldiers were collectively executed; an eleventh century monk named Otto of Freising wrote that most of the legionaries escaped, and only some were executed.^[5] It's possible that the legion was simply re-organized during Diocletian's re-organization of units (breaking up legions of 6000 men to create smaller units of 1000), and that some of the soldiers had been executed, and that this was where the story of the legion's destruction originated from.^[5] Alternative theories explaining the story's origin also exist.

Further, the military staunchly followed Isis or Mithras (Sol Invictus), until Constantine's time at the earliest, making it unlikely they filled an entire legion.

Some^[who?] suggest that the statement that the entire legion was Christian was a pious fabrication by Theodore, bishop of Octodurum, sometime between 388 and 394, whom Eucherius, bishop of Lyon, cites as his source for this story, to encourage his contemporary Christians serving in the Roman army to ignore the orders of their pagan superiors and instead side with the Church. This view is not accepted by Church historians, who assert the authenticity of the account. If it was a later fabrication, by Eucherius himself, its dissemination was certainly successful in drawing pilgrims to the abbey at Agaunum. That institution was created ex nihilo from 515 onwards by Sigismund, the first Catholic king of the Burgundians. The abbey was unique in its time as the creation of a king working in concord with bishops, rather than an organic development that occurred round the central figure of a holy monk.

Veneration[link]

Saint Maurice became a patron saint of the Holy Roman Emperors. In 926, Henry I (919–936), even ceded the present Swiss canton of Aargau to the abbey, in return for Maurice's lance, sword and spurs. 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. In addition, some of the emperors were anointed before the Altar of Saint Maurice at St. Peter's Basilica.^[2] In 929 Henry I the Fowler held a royal court gathering (Reichsversammlung) at Magdeburg. At the same time the Mauritius Kloster in honor of Maurice was founded. In 961, Otto I was building and enriching the cathedral at Magdeburg, which he intended for his own tomb. To that end,

in the year 961 of the Incarnation and in the twenty-fifth 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. Having been sent to Magdeburg, these relics were received with great honour by a gathering of the entire populace of the city and of their fellow countrymen. They are still venerated there, to the salvation of the homeland. ^[6]

Maurice is traditionally depicted in full armor, in Italy emblasoned with a red cross. In folk culture he has become connected with the legend of the Spear of Destiny, 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. Saint Maurice gives his name to the town St. Moritz as well as to numerous places called Saint-Maurice in French speaking countries. The Indian Ocean island state of Mauritius was named after Maurice of Nassau, a member of the House of Orange, and not directly after St. Mauritius himself.

Over 650 religious foundations dedicated to Saint Maurice can be found in France and other European countries. In Switzerland alone, seven churches or altars in Aargau, six in the Canton of Lucerne, four in the Canton of Solothurn, and one in Appenzell Innerrhoden can be found (in fact, his feast day is a cantonal holiday in Appenzell Innerrhoden).^[2] 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. Several chivalric orders 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.^[2] Additionally, fifty-two towns and villages in France have been named in his honor.^[7]

Maurice is also the patron saint of a Roman Catholic parish and church in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, and including part of the town of Arabi in St. Bernard parish. The church was constructed in 1856, making it one of the oldest currently used churches in the area. The church was devastated by the winds and flood waters of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005; the copper-plated steeple was blown off the building. Masses resumed at the building in 2006. It is currently again an active church.

On July 19, 1941 Pope Pius XII declared Saint Maurice to be patron Saint of the Italian Army's Alpini Mountain Infantry Corps^[8] The Alpini Corps has celebrated Saints Maurice's feast every year since then.

Patronage[link]

St Maurice is the patron saint of soldiers, swordsmiths, armies, and infantrymen. He is also inexplicably the patron saint of weavers and dyers, and is invoked against menstrual cramps. Manresa (Spain), Piedmont (Italy), Montalbano Jonico (Italy), Schiavi di Abruzzo (Italy), and Stadtsulza (Germany) have chosen St. Maurice as their patron saint as well.^[9] St Maurice is also the patron saint of the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a historical military order of unmarried merchants in present-day Estonia and Latvia.^[10]

In September 2008, certain relics of St. Maurice were transferred to a new reliquary and rededicated in Schiavi di Abruzzo (Italy).^[11][12]

Egyptian Maurice[link]

St. Maurice was an Egyptian from Thebes in Upper Egypt. His Egyptian origin is stressed by the Coptic Greek name "Maurikios", which appears in the papyri, and is identical with the later Roman name "Mauritius", according to G. Heuser in his Personennamen der Kopten.

In fact, the name is found in epitaphs of the Ptolemaic Egypt and Egyptian Christian periods, and is still used as a personal name in Egypt's Coptic community.^[2]

"The oldest surviving" ^[13] image that depicts Saint Maurice as a Black African ^[13] was carved in the 1240s for the Cathedral of Magdeburg, a strikingly accurate depiction of a contemporary armed knight; there it is displayed next to the grave of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. 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.^[14][15] The Cathedral of Magdeburg is the first and oldest standing temple honoring the life of St. Maurice. When the new cathedral was built under Archbishop Albert II of Käfernberg (served 1205-32), the relic said to be the head of Maurice was procured from the Holy Land.

The image of Saint Maurice has been examined in detail by Gude Suckale-Redlefsen,^[16] who demonstrated that this image of Maurice has existed since Maurice's first depiction in Germany between the Weser and the Elbe, and spread to Bohemia, where it became associated with the imperial ambitions of the House of Luxembourg. According to Suckale-Redlefsen, the image of Maurice reached its apogee during the years 1490 to 1530. Images of the saint died out in the mid-sixteenth century, undermined, Suckale-Redlefsen suggests, by the developing African slave trade. "Once again, as in the early Middle Ages, the color black had become associated with spiritual darkness and cultural 'otherness'".^[17]

Gallery[link]

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  13th Century Statue of Saint Maurice from the Magdeburg Cathedral that bears his name.

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  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.

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  "The Martyrdom of Saint Maurice" by El Greco. 1580-82

• StMauriceSoultz.JPG

  A statue of Saint Maurice, located in Soultz-Haut-Rhin, France.

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  "The Martyrdom of Saint Maurice" by Romulo Cincinato. 1583. Oil on canvas, 540 x 288 cm, Monasterio de San Lorenzo, El Escorial, Spain. Cincinnato placed stronger emphasis on the execution scene, which has been brought into the foreground.

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  Jean Hey. "Portrait of Francis de Chateaubriand Presented by St. Maurice. c. 1500". Tempera on wood. Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries, Glasgow, UK.

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  St. Maurice as depicted on the City of Coburg's Coat of Arms.

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  Saint Maurice Stained glass window, Officer Cadet’s Mess, Royal Military College Saint-Jean, St-Jean sur Richelieu, Quebec, Canada

See also[link]

• Order of Saint Maurice
• St. Moritz

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saint Maurice

• Coptic Orthodox Church Network: "Saint Maurice of Theba"
• On the image of the Blackamoor in European Heraldry - St. Maurice
• David Wood, "The Origin of the Cult of St. Maurice"
• Saint Maurice from the Golden Legend
• A Translation of Grimm's Saga No. 439 about Saint Mauritius and King Dagobert