Saint Mauritius Candidus was a member of the
6,600 Theban Legion, a group of Egyptian Coptic Catholic Christian soldiers
recruited by Maximian Herculius in Upper Egypt.
When Maximian and the co-emperor Diocletian
ordered all his soldiers to join in offering sacrifice to the pagan gods for
the success of their expedition, and the execution of innocent Catholics of
the early Church, the members of the Theban Legion refused to take part.
Candidus, known as the
Senator Militum, was among the leaders of the Theban Legion who led the
opposition to Maximian and Diocletian , stating that "we are your soldiers,
but we are also servants of the true God. We cannot renounce Him who is our
Creator and Master, and also yours even though you reject Him."
Maximian,
seeing no hope of overcoming their constancy, ordered that the entire Legion
by put to death. This all occurred near Aguanum (c. 287) and September 22nd
is the day that Candidus and his companions are commemorated in the Roman
Martyrology.
For many centuries, the
principal relics of Candidus and his companions were preserved in a 6th
century reliquary at the Abbey founded by St. Theodore of Octodurum.
The Profession of Faith of
Saint Mauritius Candidus
“O Emperor, we are your soldiers,
but we are before all else servants of God. We owe you military obedience,
we owe Him innocence. We receive from you the pay for our labor; from Him we
received life. We cannot with you disavow God our Creator, our Lord and your
Creator as well, whether you wish it or not. If we are not constrained to
offend him by such crimes, we will still obey you, as we always have done;
if not, we will obey Him rather than you… We have always fought for justice,
for the respect and the life of innocent people: this has been for us the
reward for our dangers. We have fought in faithfulness. But this
faithfulness, how to preserve it for you, if we refuse it to our God? We
have firstly pledged our oath to God, then we have pledged our oath to the
Emperor. Be aware that our second oath is illusory, if we violate the first.
You order us to persecute Christians. You do not need to seek any further:
we are here! … Here we are with weapons in our hands, and we will not
resist. Because we prefer to die rather than to kill; perish innocent rather
than live guilty. If you still pronounce new decrees against us, if you give
new orders, if you bring new threats, fires, tortures, swords, we are ready
to undergo all of them. Christians, we declare ourselves: we cannot
persecute Christians.”
