Feast Day of St. Maurice

ExecutedToday.com ^ | September 22, 2019 | Headsman

[CheshireTheCat]

September 22 is the feast date of early Christian martyr Saint Maurice, and of the legendary all-Christian Theban Legion which he commanded.

This legion raised from Egypt is supposed to have converted en masse to Christianity, and suffered the persecution of Diocletian when it was deployed to Gaul and there refused to sacrifice to pagan gods or harass local Christians. The hagiography — and the earliest source is Eucherius of Lyon, a century and a half after the supposed events — holds that the legion stood a decimation to punish its fidelity, and then another, and then another … and then finally they dispensed with the fractional increments and killed the entire remaining 72.9% of them.

Ancient Christian martyrologies of course boast quite a few soldiers but in their day, from late antiquity all the way to Early Modern Europe, Maurice and the Theban Legion had star treatment on the relic-and-pilgrimage circuit...

[quikstrike98]

I took Maurice as my Confirmation name when I was confirmed at Parris Island. And today I sit here in pain from a crown procedure and dislocation of my hip, thinking this is a great time to meditate on the pain of his martyrdom.

[CheshireTheCat]

I am sorry to read that you are going through so much pain. I hope things resolve soon.