ON THE HOLY THEBAN MARTYRS,
MAURITIUS, GEORGIUS AND TIBERIUS,
AT PINEROLO IN PIEDMONT.
UNDER DIOCLETIAN.
CommentaryMauritius, Theban Martyr, at Pinerolo in Piedmont (St.)
Georgius, Theban Martyr, at Pinerolo in Piedmont (St.)
Tiberius, Theban Martyr, at Pinerolo in Piedmont (St.)
By G. H.
Pinerolo, a city of Piedmont in Italy at the foot of the Alps and near the river Chisone, has two collegiate churches, At Pinerolo and several monasteries both of men and of women. Among these, not far from the walls, in a place formerly called Saint Verono's, the most pious Adelasia, daughter and heir of Odoric Manfred, Marquis of Susa, and wife of Raymond Berengar II, Count of Barcelona, founded in the year 1064 a most celebrated monastery, illustrious with abbatial dignity, and then conceded to the Benedictine monks, in the Abbey of St. Mary, in honor of the most blessed Virgin Mary, and endowed it with most ample possessions. When Vincentius Laureus, Bishop of Mondovì, was Commendatory Abbot of this place — created in place of Pope Pius V in the year 1566, who was also a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church — he transferred the monastery itself to the Reformed Cistercians, commonly called Foillants. The bodies of these martyrs are preserved, At the same time, having obtained the license of the Apostolic See, he saw to it that a solemn translation of the sacred bodies of Saints Mauritius, Georgius and Tiberius, martyrs of the Theban Legion, should take place. These are honored there on this April 24, with the highest veneration and the most frequent concourse of people, and confer no little adornment, majesty and devotion upon the same monastery, as Francis Augustinus ab Ecclesia attests in his Chronological History of Piedmont and its Churches, chapters 7 and 24, and William Baldesanus in his Sacred Theban History, book 2, p. 260. Their memory on this April 24 is celebrated by Ferrarius in his General Catalogue, and more at length in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, in these words: "Mauritius, Georgius and Tiberius, Theban soldiers, from the number of those who withdrew themselves from the camp compendium of the martyrdom, to avoid the savagery of the Emperor Maximian, were caught by the persecutors in the territory of the Turins, near the famous town of Pinerolo; and persevering in the confession of the faith, they were slain by them, and having won the palm of martyrdom, they flew up to heaven. Whose bodies are preserved buried in the Abbey of Saint Mary near the city of Pinerolo, and on this day they have veneration among the inhabitants." Thus Ferrarius. Baldesanus laments that all knowledge of these martyrs which was had in the ancient monuments was scattered by the impious Calvinist heretics, Acts scattered by the heretics. and that nothing more than the sacred bones of these martyrs could be carried elsewhere, lest they be burned with the rest of the ecclesiastical furniture. But after that rage had passed and peace had been granted to the region, they were honorably restored to their place under Charles Emmanuel, and are venerated with worthy honor to this day, ancient tradition favoring this. Nicolaus Brautius, Bishop of Sarsina, in his Poetic Martyrology honored them with these verses:
Three men God snatched from the Theban legion slain, Men to be slain elsewhere for the Godhead. Lest they defile themselves, they left the Theban camp, From the middle of the way they rise to the clear stars.