Olomouc
City
Horní náměstí - the largest square in Olomouc (on right: the Holy Trinity Column, on left: Olomouc Town Hall with astronomical clock)
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Czech Republic
Region	Olomouc
District	Olomouc
River	Morava
Elevation	219 m (719 ft)
Coordinates	49°35′38″N 17°15′3″E / 49.59389°N 17.25083°E / 49.59389; 17.25083
Area	103.36 km2 (39.91 sq mi)
Population	102,004 (15 October 2010) [1]
Density	987 / km2 (2,556 / sq mi)
Founded	10th century
- First mentioned	1017
Mayor	Martin Novotný
Postal code	779 00
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Name	Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc
Year	2000 (#24)
Number	859
Region	Europe and North America
Criteria	i, iv
Location in the Czech Republic
Wikimedia Commons: Olomouc
Statistics: statnisprava.cz
Website: http://www.olomoucko.cz/

Olomouc (/ˈɔːləmoʊts/;^{[citation needed]} Czech: [ˈolomou̯ts]; German Olmütz, Latin Olomucium or Iuliomontium, Polish Ołomuniec) is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic. The city has about 102,000 residents, but its larger urban zone has a population of about 480,000 people.^[2]

History[link]

Olomouc is said to occupy the site of a Roman fort founded in the imperial period, the original name of which, Iuliomontium (Mount Julius), would have been gradually corrupted to the present form. Although this account is no more than a legend, archaeological excavations close to the city have revealed the remains of a Roman military camp dating from the time of the Marcoman Wars.

During the 6th century the Slavs came to the area. As early as the 7th century, there was a centre of political power in the present-day quarter of Povel (situated in lowland, southerly from the city centre). Around 810 local Slavonic ruler was defeated by troops of Great Moravian rulers and settlement in Olomouc-Povel was destroyed. New centre, where the Great Moravian governor resided, was transferred to the gord at Předhradí, a quarter of the inner city (the eastern, smaller part of the medieval centre). This settlement thanks to its geographical location has survived extinction of the Great Moravia (c. 907) and later gradually became the capital of the province of Moravia. In 906 the first Jews settled in Olomouc.^{[citation needed]} In 1060 they were forced into a ghetto and instructed to wear a yellow badge.^{[citation needed]} The bishopric of Olomouc was founded in 1063;^[3] centuries later raised to the rank of an archbishopric in 1777. The bishopric was moved from the church of St. Peter (now non-existent) to the church of St Wenceslas in 1141 (the date is still disputed, other suggestions are 1131, 1134) under bishop Henry Zdík and the bishop's palace was built in the Romanesque architectural style. The bishopric acquired large tracts of land, especially in northern Moravia, and was one of the richest in the area.

Olomouc became one of the most important settlements in Moravia and a seat of the Přemyslid government, seat of one of the appanage princes. In 1306 King Wenceslas III stopped here on his way to Poland, where he wanted to fight Wladislaus I the Elbow-high to claim his rights to the Polish crown, and was assassinated. With his death the whole Přemyslid dynasty died out.

The city itself was founded in the mid-thirteenth century and became one of the most important trade and power centres in the region. In the Middle Ages it was the biggest town in Moravia and competed with Brno for the position of the capital. Olomouc lost finally after the Swedes took the city for eight years (1642–1650).

In 1454 the Jews of Olomouc were expelled. Later in the second half of the fifteenth century is what can be viewed as the start of Olomouc's golden age. It hosted several royal meetings and Matthias Corvinus was elected here as King of Bohemia (in fact antiking) by the estates in 1469. In 1479 two kings of Bohemia (Vladislaus II and Matthias Corvinus) met here and concluded an agreement (Peace of Olomouc of 1479) for splitting the country.

Olomouc fortress in 1686

Olomouc bastion fortress in 1757

During the Thirty Years' War, in 1640, Olomouc was occupied by the Swedes for eight years. They left the city in ruins and so it ceded its position to Brno. In 1740 the town was captured and briefly held by the Prussians. Olomouc was then fortified by Maria Theresa during the wars with Frederick the Great, who besieged the city unsuccessfully for seven weeks in 1758. In 1848 Olomouc was the scene of the emperor Ferdinand's abdication, and in 1850 an important conference between Austrian and German statesmen called the Punctation of Olmütz took place here. At the conference, the German Confederation was restored and Prussia submitted its leadership to the Austrians.

In 1746 the first learned society in the lands under control of the Austrian Habsburgs, the Societas eruditorum incognitorum in terris Austriacis, was founded in Olomouc in order to spread Enlightenment ideas. Its monthly journal Monatliche Auszüge was the first scientific journal in the Habsburg Monarchy.

Largely because of its ecclesiastical links to Austria, Salzburg in particular, the city has had a German influence since the Middle Ages. It is difficult assess the ethnic makeup of the town before an accurate census was taken. However, official documents from the second half of the 16th century and early 17th century reveal that the town's ecclesiastical constitution, the meetings of the Diet and the locally printed hymnal, were all in the Czech language. Also, the first treatise on music in the Czech language was published in Olomouc in the mid 16th century. The political and social changes that followed the Thirty Years War increased the influence of courtly Habsburg culture. The "Germanification" of the town was probably more a result of the cosmopolitan environment of the town than by design. As the cultural, administrative and religious centre of the region, it drew officials, musicians and traders from all over Europe. Despite these influences, the Czech language still persisted, particularly in ecclesiastical publications throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. When the Austrian-born composer and musician Philip J. Rittler accepted a post at the Wenceslas Cathedral in the second half of the seventeenth century, he still felt it necessary to learn Czech. However, the use of the Czech language in official matters went into decline and by the 19th century, the official statistics record that the number of Germans was three times higher than the number of Czechs.^[4] After the revolution in 1848, the Jewish expulsion order of 1454 was rescinded. In 1897 a synagogue was built and the Jewish population reached 1,676 in 1900. Olomouc was enclosed with city walls almost until the end of the 19th century. This suited the city council, because demolishing the walls would allow for extension of the city, which would result in the settlement of many Czechs from neighbouring villages. The city council preferred Olomouc smaller, but German. Expansion came after WWI and the establishment of Czechoslovakia, when Olomouc integrated two neighbouring towns and 11 surrounding villages and thus gained new space for its growth.

There were serious tensions between the Czech and German-speaking inhabitants during both world wars (largely brought on by outside provocation). On Kristallnacht (10 November 1938), the synagogue was destroyed and in March 1939, 800 Jewish men were arrested, some being sent to Dachau concentration camp. During 1942–1943, the remaining Jews were sent to Theresienstadt and other German concentration camps in occupied Poland. 285 of the town's Jews survived the Holocaust. During the war most of the town's German residents sided with the Nazis and the German-run town council renamed the main square after Adolf Hitler. The Czech residents changed the name again after the town was liberated. When the retreating German army passed through Olomouc in the final weeks of the war they opened fire on the town's old astronomical clock, leaving only a few pieces (that can now be seen in the local museum). The one that can be seen today is a 1950s reconstruction and features a procession of proletarians rather than saints. Most of the German population was expelled after the war.

Despite its considerable charms, Olomouc has not been discovered by tourists in the same way that Prague, Český Krumlov and Karlovy Vary have. Its inner city is the second-largest historical monuments preserve in the country, after Prague.

One of Olomouc's famous sons was the film-maker Edgar G. Ulmer, who was born in Olomouc in 1904, but who always preferred to give Vienna as his birthplace, as this sounded less provincial.^[5] Another notable son of Olomouc is football coach Karel Brückner, formerly head coach of the Czech national team and later head coach of Austria.

City monuments[link]

Saint Wenceslas Cathedral

Olomouc astronomical clock

Olomouc contains several large squares, the chief of which is adorned with the Holy Trinity Column, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The column is 115 ft (35 m) high and was built between 1716 and 1754. The city ​​is characterized by a large number of religious buildings. The most prominent church is Saint Wenceslas cathedral founded before 1107 in the compound of the Olomouc Castle. At the end of the 19th century the Cathedral was rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style, but it kept many features of the original church, which had been rebuilt many times (Romanesque crypt, Gothic cloister, Baroque chapels). The highest of its three spires is 328 ft (100 m), which makes it the second highest spire in the country (after Cathedral of St. Bartholomew in Plzeň). The church is just next to the Bishop Zdík's Palace (also called the Přemyslid Palace), a Romanesque building built after 1141 by the bishop Henry Zdík. Remnants of it are one of the most precious monuments of Olomouc: a bishop's palace, a secular building of that early age is unique in Central Europe. The real Přemyslid Palace, i.e. the residence of Olomouc dukes from the governing Přemyslid dynasty, used to stand nearby.

Saint Maurice Church, a fine Gothic building of the 15th century with the 6th largest church organ in Central Europe inside and Saint Michael's Church are also worth mentioning. The Neo-baroque chapel of Saint John Sarkander stands on the site of a former town prison. Catholic priest John Sarkander was imprisoned here at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. He was accused of collaboration with the enemy and tortured here, but did not reveal anything because of the Seal of Confession, and died. The torture rack and Sarkander’s gravestone are preserved here. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II during his visit in Olomouc in 1995. Another place that John Paul II visited here was Svatý Kopeček ("The Holy Hillock"), a part of Olomouc lying on a hill, with the magnificent Baroque church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary looking down on the city. The Pope promoted the church to Minor Basilica. There are a number of monasteries in Olomouc, including Hradisko Monastery, Convent of Dominican Sisters in Olomouc and others.

Remarkable sights are also the Olomouc Orthodox Church consecrated to St. Gorazd or Mausoleum of Yugoslav Soldiers, a monument, commemorating the death of 1,188 Yugoslav soldiers which were wounded on battlefields of the World War I and died in local military hospitals.

The principal secular building is the town hall, completed in the 15th century, flanked on one side by a gothic chapel, transformed now into a museum. It possesses a tower 250 ft (76 m) high, adorned with an astronomical clock in an uncommon Socialist Realist style (the original look from 15th century was destroyed at the end of the World War II and reconstructed in 1947–1955 by Karel Svolinský).

Olomouc is also proud of its six Baroque fountains. The fountains survived in such number thanks to the cautious policy of the city council. While most European cities were removing old fountains after they had built their water supply piping, Olomouc decided to keep them as water reservoirs in case of fire. For their decoration, ancient Roman motifs were used. Five of them depict the Roman gods Jupiter (image), Mercury (image), Triton (image), Neptune and Hercules (image), and one depicts Julius Caesar, the legendary founder of the city (image). In the 21st century, an Arion fountain was added to the main square, inspired by the older project.

In the largest square in Olomouc (Horní náměstí - Upper Square), in front of the astronomical clock, is a scale model of the entire old town in bronze.

University[link]

Lower courtyard of the University Art Centre (former Jesuit College building) with the so called "Jewish Gate", which is part of the original fortification.

The university, the oldest in Moravia and second oldest in the Czech Republic, was founded in 1573 as part of effort to reestablish Roman Catholicism in the country: roughly nine out of ten^[6] inhabitants of the Czech Crown lands were Protestants at the time. Most of its faculties were suppressed in 1850s by the Habsburg régime in retaliation for the professors' and students' support for the 1848 revolution and the Czech National Revival. The university was fully restored in 1946 with its name extended to Palacký University of Olomouc.

The Palacký University of Olomouc plays a very important role in the life of the town: with over 25,200 students (including those at Moravian College Olomouc) Olomouc has the highest density of university students in Central Europe. Many of the town's services are student-oriented and close not only during holidays, but also during the university exam periods. During the summer holiday even the trams run solo (apart from rush-hours), while during the rest of the year the lines are served by two coupled trams. The University buildings comprise about a third of the town's heritage centre; notable ones include the University Art Centre and the so-called Armoury (now Central Library).

Mayors[link]

List of Olomouc mayors:^[7]

Sport[link]

• SK Sigma Olomouc – football club
• HC Olomouc – hockey club
• Skokani Olomouc – baseball club
• 1. HFK Olomouc – football club
• DHK Olomouc – women's handball club
• AK Olomouc – athletics club
• RC Olomouc – rugby club

International relations[link]

Twin towns – Sister cities[link]

Olomouc is twinned with:

In popular culture[link]

• Asteroid 30564 Olomouc was named after this city.
• Scenes from the 2002 television serial Doctor Zhivago were filmed in Olomouc.
• Olomouc is mentioned in the song Disappear by R.E.M. from the album Reveal

Panorama[link]

Panoramic view of Olomouc from the Church of Saint Maurice

See also[link]

• Academia Film Olomouc
• List of bishops and archbishops of Olomouc
• Olomouc Appanage

Footnotes[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Olomouc

Wikisource has the text of the 1879 American Cyclopædia article Olmütz.

• Municipal website
• Portal Olomouc
• Olomouc – Czech.cz, official portal of the Czech Republic
• Olomouc travel guide from Wikitravel
• UNESCO World Heritage Site: Holy Trinity Column
• Palacký University
• Moravian college
• Filmmaker Albert Maysles in Olomouc

Webcams[link]

• Olomouc town hall with an astronomical clock
• Horní náměstí (Upper Square) with the Holy Trinity Column

Tourism[link]

• Official portal for tourist – information, services, leisure time, monuments, culture
• Olomouc-travel.cz

v t e Administrative seats of Czech regions Brno České Budějovice Hradec Králové Jihlava Karlovy Vary Liberec Ostrava Olomouc Pardubice Plzeň Prague Ústí nad Labem Zlín

Karel Plíhal
Karel Plíhal
Background information
Born	(1958-04-23)April 23, 1958 Přerov, Czechoslovakia, today Czech Republic,
Genres	Jazz, Folk music,
Occupations	Jazz musician, lyricist, poet, record producer
Instruments	guitar
Associated acts	Hučka, Falešní hráči and Plíharmonyje
Website	www.karelplihal.cz

Karel Plíhal (born August 23, 1958 in Přerov) is a Czech folk and jazz musician, singer, songwriter and record producer.

He graduated from the Industrial College of Engineering and then worked as a designer and boilerman in the Olomouc theatre, finally becoming a singer (even though he had no formal musical education). He has played the guitar since he was 15 year old. First, he played in various underground country-swing bands in Olomouc: Hučka, Falešní hráči and Plíharmonyje. He produced his first solo album in 1983. Between 1985 and 1993, Plíhal worked with Emil Pospíšil, and from 1995 to 1999 he produced music with Petr Freund. He has also won four Porta folk music awards as of 2006. His 2005 album Karel Plíhal in Olomouc was recorded in his home town in Moravia in a 2004 concert.

Plíhal has composed music for numerous productions at the Moravian Theatre in Olomouc, among others Zlatovláska, Sluha dvou pánů, Utrpení Dona Perlimplína, Manon Lescaut, Cyrano, Zimní pohádka, Pašije and Giroflé-Giroflá. He has set music to a few of Josef Kainar's poems, and he has directed recording for albums by artists such as Jarek Nohavica, Petr Fiala, Eben brothers and Bokomara band.

He starred as himself in Petr Zelenka's mockumentary Year of the Devil.

Discography[link]

• Karel Plíhal v Olomouci (2005) - two CD recording of a concert in Olomouc
• Karel Plíhal v Telči (2005) - DVD recording of a concert in Telč
• Nebe počká (2004) – poems of Josef Kainar, in collaboration with Zuzana Navarová
• Rok Ďábla (2002) – music for the movie of the same name
• Kluziště (2000) - album with new arrangements of old songs
• Napadl Sníh (Sova Sněžná) (2000) - a single released as a Christmas CD of Česká spořitelna
• Králíci, ptáci a hvězdy (1996)
• Takhle nějak to bylo ... (1994)
• Karel Plíhal 1985-89 (1992) – summary edition of the two previous albums with added song Žlutí sokoli
• Karel Plíhal...Emil Pospíšil... (1989)
• Karel Plíhal (1985)
• Plíharmonyje - concert bootleg
• Mávej, mávej - concert bootleg

External links[link]

• Karel Plíhal - official site (in Czech Language)
• Radio Prague "Musician and songwriter Karel Plíhal releases album to celebrate 25-year career" 31 March 2005 retrieved 10 March 2006

This article about a Czech singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article on a Czech musician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

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