Felix and Regula

Felix and Regula

The saints Felix and Regula, together with their servant Exuperantius, are the patron saints of Zürich, their feast day being 11 September.

According to legend, Felix and Regula were siblings, and members of the Theban legion under Saint Maurice, stationed in Agaunum in the Valais. When the legion was to be executed in 286, they fled, reaching Zürich via Glarus before they were caught, tried and executed. After decapitation, they are said to have walked forty paces uphill. They were buried on the spot where they fell down.

The legend cannot be traced beyond an 8th century account, according to which the story was revealed to a monk called Florentius.In the 9th century there was a small monastery at the location, outside the settlement of Zürich which was situated on the left side of the Limmat. The Grossmünster was built on their graves from ca. 1100, while at the site of their execution stands the Wasserkirche. From the 13th century, images of the saints were used in official seals of the city and on coins. On the saints' feast day, their relics were carried in procession between the Grossmünster and the Fraumünster, and the two monasteries vied for possession of the relics, which attracted enough pilgrims to make Zürich the most important pilgrimage site in the bishopric of Konstanz. The Knabenschiessen of Zürich originates with the festival.

With the dissolution of the monasteries by Huldrych Zwingli in 1524, their possessions were confiscated and the graves of the martyrs were opened. There are conflicting versions of what happened then. Heinrich Bullinger claims that the graves were empty save for a few bone fragments, which were piously buried in the common graveyard outside the church. The Catholics, on the other hand, claimed that the reformers were planning to throw the relics of the saints into the river, and that a courageous man of Uri (who happened to be exiled from Uri, and by his action earned amnesty) stole the relics from the church and carried them to Andermatt, where the two skulls of Felix and Regula can be seen to this day, while the remaining relics were returned to Zürich in 1950, to the newly built Catholic church "St. Felix und Regula". The skulls have been Carbon 14 dated, and while one dates to the Middle Ages, the other is in fact composed of fragments of two separate skulls, of which one is medieval, and the other could indeed date to Roman times.

External links

* [http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/cpg111 CPG 111] , 1470s manuscript containing the legend of Felix and Regula as well as that of Saint Meinrad.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Felix Hemmerlin —     Felix Hemmerlin     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Felix Hemmerlin     (MALLEOLUS) properly HEMERLI     A provost at Solothurn, in Switzerland, born at Zurich, in 1388 or 1389; died about 1460. He was educated at the school of the collegiate… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Felix — Infobox Given Name Revised name = Felix imagesize= caption= pronunciation= gender = Male meaning = lucky or successful region = origin = Latin related names = footnotes = Felix (Latin for happy or lucky ) is a male given name and the name of many …   Wikipedia

  • Preamble and Title 1 of the Swiss Federal Constitution — The preamble and the first title of the Swiss Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 determine the general outlines of Switzerland as a democratic federal republic of 26 cantons governed by the rule of law.PreambleThe preamble to the Constitution… …   Wikipedia

  • Early history of Switzerland — History of Switzerland This article is part of a series Early history …   Wikipedia

  • History of Zürich — Zürich was continuously inhabited since Roman times. Political power lay with the Grossmünster and Fraumünster abbeys during Medieval times, until the guild revolt in the 14th century which led to the joining of the Swiss Confederacy. Zürich was… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Egyptians — The following is a list of notable Egyptians: Contents 1 Film, television, and radio 1.1 Actors 1.2 Actresses 1.3 Female models …   Wikipedia

  • Theban Legion — Saint Gereon of the Theban Legion and soldier companions, Stefan Lochner, c. 1440 Martyrs Died 286 AD Agaunum …   Wikipedia

  • Cephalophore — Saint Denis of Paris A cephalophore (from the Greek for head carrier ) is a saint who is generally depicted carrying his or her own head; in art, this was usually meant to signify that the subject in question had been martyred by beheading.… …   Wikipedia

  • Münsterhof — Münsterhof, Zunfthaus zur Waag, to the left, Zunfthaus zur Meisen to the right Postal co …   Wikipedia

  • Crypt — This article is about the stone chambers called crypts . For other uses, see Crypt (disambiguation). Crypt of Bayeux Cathedral, France In architecture, a crypt (from the Latin crypta and the Greek κρύπτη, kryptē; meaning concealed, private) is a… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”