Maurice of Agaunum

According to the passion written around 450 by Eucherius, bishop of Lyon, he commanded the Theban legion, recruited in Upper Egypt and sent to Gaul under Maximian. On reaching Agaunum in the Valais, the unit was ordered to take part in the repression of Christians; the legionaries, Christians themselves, refused. The emperor had the troop decimated, then decimated again, and faced with their obstinacy finally had it massacred entire. Historians dispute everything in this account — the numbers, the date, even the legion's existence — but a cult is attested at Agaunum from the fifth century, where the abbey of Saint-Maurice, founded in 515, is among the oldest monasteries in the West still in use. His name spread across Europe, from Savoy to the Holy Roman Empire, where he became patron of knights. German iconography has depicted him as an African since the thirteenth century. He is commemorated on 22 September.