Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint
Saint Servatius
[2]
(
Dutch
:
Sint Servaas
;
French
:
Saint Servais
;
Limburgish
:
Sintervaos
;
Armenian
:
????? ?????????
Surb Servatios
; died 13 May 384) was
bishop of Tongeren
(Latin:
Atuatuca Tungrorum
, the capital of the
Tungri
). Servatius is
patron saint
of the city of
Maastricht
and the towns of
Schijndel
and
Grimbergen
. He is one of the
Ice Saints
. His feast day is May 13.
History
[
edit
]
Tomb of Saint Servatius in the
Basilica of St Servatius
in
Maastricht
A widely travelled diplomat and a determined opponent of
Arianism
, the presence of Servatius is recorded at several
synods
and church councils. In 343,
Sarbatios
- Greek texts rendering
v
as
b
- was present at the
Council of Sardica
(modern
Sofia
). In the debates, Servatius represented the
Trinitarian
view, which clashed with the Arian view of most Eastern bishops. According to
Sulpicius Severus
, Servatius again eloquently denounced Arianism at the
Council of Rimini
in 359.
When
Athanasius
, the leading opponent of Arianism, was exiled to
Trier
(in 336 or 343), he may have met with Servatius, because both men campaigned against Arian bishops and priests in the region.
According to a medieval legend, Servatius took part a Council of Cologne in 346, testifying that Euphrates, bishop of Cologne, "denied the divinity of
Jesus Christ
, this even happened in the presence of Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria".
[3]
Euphrates was historically known as an opponent of Arianism and alongside Athanasius and Servatius took part in the Council of Sardica.
[4]
[5]
The legend, compiled in Trier, probably aimed at reducing the status of the church of Cologne, with which Trier was in conflict over ecclesiastical predominance.
After co-emperor
Constans
had been assassinated in 350, Servatius was sent to the
Roman emperor
Constantius II
in
Edessa
, the capital of
Armenian Mesopotamia
, as an envoy of the
usurper
Magnentius
to represent the late Constans as an unworthy tyrant and oppressor, in the hope of obtaining Constantius's recognition of Magnentius as co-ruler. The mission failed and the resulting civil war ended with the death of Magnentius in 353. The mission can be seen as a sign of the high standing of Servatius.
Servatius and the Huns
[
edit
]
An important source about the life of Saint Servatius, albeit not a contemporary source, is
Gregory of Tours
'
Glory of the Confessors
and
History of the Franks
.
[6]
In his late 6th-century account, Gregory writes about
Aravatius
(identified by most scholars as Servatius), who was a bishop of Tongeren and died in Maastricht. According to the Frankish bishop and historian, Aravatius lived at the time when the
Huns
threatened Tongeren (5th century), which does not match the 4th-century dates of the synods mentioned above. It is not always clear how much of Gregory's account is history and how much is fiction. Gregory describes how Aravatius, during a vigil at
Saint Peter
's tomb in
Rome
, had a vision in which the destruction of Tongeren was forecast (because of their sinfulness). Peter then handed the
Keys of Heaven
to Aravatius, transferring to him the power to forgive sins. According to Gregory, Aravatius returned to Tongeren, brought the
relics
of his predecessors to Maastricht, where he died and was buried alongside the Roman road, near the bridge.
As a bishop, Servatius may have been the founder of several early Christian churches in the diocese of Tongeren. Two likely candidates are the
Basilica of Our Lady
in
Tongeren
and the
Basilica of Our Lady
in
Maastricht
. In the case of Tongeren, this traditional claim was supported by excavations in the 1980s, which revealed under the medieval church remains of a 4th-century church, possibly the original cathedral of the diocese. The origins of the Maastricht church of Our Lady remain uncertain, since no excavations have ever been carried out inside this church. In another Maastricht church however, the
Basilica of Saint Servatius
, excavations in the 1990s have revealed the remains of a 6th-century church (built by bishop
Monulph
and described by Gregory of Tours as a
magnum templum
), with at its center a late
Roman
structure, possibly the tomb of Servatius.
Legend
[
edit
]
The extended family of Saint Servatius, including Jesus, Mary, John the Baptist and Saint Anne (16th-century panel,
Treasury of the Basilica of Saint Servatius
)
Over the centuries legends accumulated around the historical figure of the bishop of Tongeren. Two early
vitae
(
biographies
) place Servatius' birth in
Armenia
and make him a cousin of
John the Baptist
, and thus a distant relative of
Jesus
(neither were mentioned by Gregory of Tours).
Around 1075, the French priest Jocundus was commissioned by the
chapter
of Saint Servatius to write another
Vita sancti Servatii
. Jocundus is also the author of the
Miracula sancti Servatii
, a sequel to the vita, describing all the miracles that happened after Servatius' death. According to some historians, both works were composed to quell doubts about the genealogy of Servatius and his Armenian descent. These doubts had been raised at the Council of Mainz in 1049. When envoys from the
Byzantine emperor
arrived at the Council of Mainz, confirming accounts by a certain Alagrecus who had testified that Servatius was Armenian, and asserting that his birthplace was
Fenuste
, southeast of
Damascus
, this helped to erase some doubts but Servatius' kinship to Jesus was never confirmed by an official council.
[7]
At the end of the 12th century the poet
Henric van Veldeke
wrote a new legend of Saint Servatius, based on the earlier accounts by Gregory of Tours and Jocundus, to which he added several more miracles, thus emphasizing Saint Servatius' saintliness. The work is considered one of the earliest works of
Dutch literature
, even though it was written in
Limburgish
, the most divergent of the 4 major dialects that comprises
Middle Dutch
.
In the 17th century, the
Bollandists
tried to separate some of the facts and myths surrounding Servatius. They managed to calculate the exact date of his death (13 May 384), which for a long time was accepted as a historical fact.
[8]
Legacy
[
edit
]
In Maastricht
[
edit
]
According to tradition the saint's remains are buried in the
Basilica of Saint Servatius
in Maastricht, where they lie in a crypt dating from the 6th century. His tomb has been a place of pilgrimage for many centuries. Famous visitors include
Charlemagne
,
Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor)
,
Philip II of Spain
and
Pope John Paul II
. In Maastricht, the
Eastern Orthodox Church
belonging to the Russian Exarchate of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
is also dedicated to Saint Servatius. The
Sint Servaasbrug
, the oldest bridge over the river
Meuse
in Maastricht, was named after Saint Servatius. The name 'Servaas' was a popular given name in Maastricht and surroundings for many centuries.
The 12th-century gilded
reliquary chest
in the Basilica of Saint Servatius, containing the saint's relics, is a major work of
Mosan art
and became known as the 'Chest of Distress' (Dutch:
Noodkist
) as it was carried around town in times of distress. A
pilgrimage
with the relics of Saint Servatius and other saints takes place every seven years: the
Maastricht Pilgrimage of the Relics
(Dutch:
Heiligdomsvaart
). The
Noodkist
is normally kept in the
Treasury of the Basilica of Saint Servatius
, along with the so-called 'Servatiana' (objects that are associated with the saint, such as his
pilgrim's staff
, his
crozier
, his
pectoral cross
, his
chalice
, his
paten
and a symbolic key to heaven).
-
-
Khachkar
at the Basilica of Saint Servatius
-
Statue of the saint on
Sint Servaasbrug
-
Saint Servatius Spring
-
Relics display with
Noodkist
and reliquary bust
-
The
Noodkist
in procession
-
Pectoral cross of Saint Servatius
-
Key of Saint Servatius
Elsewhere
[
edit
]
Other historic churches in the
Netherlands
,
Belgium
,
France
and
Germany
were dedicated to the saint, e.g. the collegiate churches of
Grimbergen Abbey
and
Quedlinburg Abbey
. In the
Quedlinburg Treasury
important relics of Saint Servatius are kept. In many churches around the world, reliquaries, statues, stained glass windows, altar pieces and paintings of Servatius are revered. St. Servatius Church in Kampung Sawah,
Indonesia
received the relics of Servatius from Maastricht in its establishment date on October 6, 1996. Since then, highly infused by
Betawi
culture, the festival honoring the relics has been celebrated annually by the parishioners of the church.
A mid-15th-century wooden sculpture of Memelia (the ancestor linking Servatius to Jesus) with the infant Servatius in her arms (identifiable by the infant wearing a bishop's mitre) in the Vendsyssel Historiske Museum in
Hjørring
,
Denmark
, is iconographically so similar to sculptures of the
Madonna and Child
, that it was long misattributed.
[9]
In
Sri Lanka
,
St. Servatius' College
was built around 1897 by a Belgian priest, Father Augustus Standard, on the bank of the river Nilwala at Pallimulla,
Matara
.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References and sources
[
edit
]
- P. C. Boeren,
Jocundus, biographe de saint Servais
. Nijhoff, The Hague, 1972
- L. Jongen Heinrich (ed.), and Kim Vivian, Richard H. Lawson and Ludo Jongen (transl.)
The Life of Saint Servatius: A Dual-language Edition of the Middle Dutch 'legend of Saint Servatius' by Heinrich Von Veldeke and the Anonymous Upper German 'life of Saint Servatius'
. Mellen Press, 2005,
ISBN
0-7734-6063-2
External links
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