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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;talerman, post: 7987004, member: 89314&quot;]After [USER=77704]@panzerman[/USER]&#039;s beauty, a much more modest coin but with a rarer saint.</p><p><br /></p><p>St. MAURICE</p><p><br /></p><p>Italy DESANA&nbsp; Pietro Berard&nbsp; Testone&nbsp; n.d. (1516-29)</p><p><br /></p><p>Note: Pietro Berard, Signore de La Faucadiere, bought the fief of Desana in 1516 and then sold it in 1529 to the Duke of Savoy.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Born in AD 250 in Thebes in Egypt, Maurice became a soldier in the Roman army and eventually the commander of the Theban legion, entirely composed of Christians. According to the <i>Passio martyrum Acaunensium</i> (“The Passion of the Martyrs&nbsp; of Agaunum”) by the 5th-century French bishop St. Eucherius, in c.286 they were sent by Maximian (later Roman emperor) to help quash a revolt of Christian peasants in Gaul. The legion met Maximian at Octodurum (now Martigny, Switzerland), but they refused to fight against their fellow Christians and withdrew in protest to Agaunum (now Saint-Maurice in Switzerland, site of the Abbey of St. Maurice). Maximian ordered one man in 10 to be executed (a military punishment known as decimation). When the men, encouraged by Maurice, still refused to comply, a second decimation was ordered. Finally, Maximian ordered all the remaining members of his legion to be executed. Among those martyred with Maurice were SS. Vitalis, Candidus, and Exuperius. Maurice’s relics are preserved at the Abbey of St. Maurice at Brzeg, Poland, and at Turin, Italy. Maurice is the patron saint of the Vatican’s Swiss Guard. (Encyclopedia Britannica).</p><p><br /></p><p>St. Maurice also appears on coins of the archbishopric of Magdeburg, one of which I posted a while ago. According to Wikipedia, the relics of Maurice&#039;s body are supposedly held in Magdeburg.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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