Explore the Saints

St. Maurice and Companions

Sts. Maurice, Exuperius, and Candidus were leaders of a legion of Christians in the Roman army who were killed for their Christian leadership and complete allegiance to Christ.

Around the year 287, the Roman army marched out to suppress a revolt in what is now Switzerland. The emperor, Maximian, led the army, which was composed of troops conscripted from various parts of the empire. One legion of 6,600 soldiers was recruited from northern Egypt and was composed entirely of Christians.

When the Roman legions arrived on the battlefield, Maximian ordered all soldiers to offer sacrifice to the gods for the success of the enterprise. The Christian legion withdrew from the army and refused to participate in the rites.

Several times, Maximian ordered them to obey. They refused, and he ordered that the other soldiers decimate the Christian legion—every tenth, randomly-selected soldier was executed. Maximian threatened to continue the decimations until the legion obeyed—he warned them he was willing to execute the entire legion.

Maurice, Exuperius, and Candidus led the legion, and they responded to Maximian by saying, “We are your soldiers, but we are also servants of the true God. We owe you military service and obedience, but we cannot renounce God who is our creator and master… We have arms in our hands, but we do not resist because we would rather die innocent than live by any sin.”

Maximian ordered the other legions to surround the Christians and kill them all. The ground was covered with bodies and blood, and the other soldiers looted what they could from the slain legion. One soldier, Victor, refused to participate in the massacre and looting. Soldiers asked him if he was Christian. When he answered that he was, he was killed as well.

A shrine was built above the ground where these brave soldiers died, and miracles began to be attributed to the intercession of these martyrs.

The traditional story of these martyrs has been scrutinized for its historical accuracy. As there is little supporting evidence for the slaughter of an entire legion of Roman soldiers, the account of the martyrdom has probably been exaggerated. What seems historically likely, however, is that a soldier named Maurice and a number of his companions were martyred in the third century. What remains unknown is the number who were killed; perhaps the story of the martyrdom of a small, brave squadron of Christian soldiers, over repeated tellings over many years, became the slaughter of a legion.

Relics of Sts. Maurice, Exuperius, Candidus, and Victor all rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. The bust of St. Maurice pictured above stands in the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art—it is designed to be a reliquary vessel itself, although today it stands empty in the museum’s medieval gallery.

St. Maurice is patron saint of the Pontifical Swiss Guards at the Vatican, and also of soldiers, swordsmiths, and weavers.

Sts. Maurice, Exuperius, Candidus, and Victor, you faithfully led your legion to martyrdom—pray for us!

Image credit: Unknown artist, Northern Italian, Reliquary Bust of Saint Maurice, c. 1530, gilt carved wood. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art: University of Notre Dame Purchase Fund, 1962.030.