Lauriacum was an important legionary Roman town on the

Danube Limes The Danubian Limes (german: Donaulimes), or Danube Limes, refers to the Roman military frontier or ''limes'' which lies along the River Danube in the present-day German state of Bavaria, in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

History

Roman era

Initially only a small Roman settlement was located at a ford over the Enns. The

Legio II Italica Legio II Italica ("Italian Second Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. Formation Originally having the ''cognomen'' ''Pia'', the legion was raised alongside III ''Italica'' by emperor Marcus Aurelius when legions sent from the Danu ...

built a legion camp around 200 AD, after the abandonment of an older site in Albin next to Virunum (In the area of today's Zollfeld at Maria Saal) and

Ovilava Wels (; Central Bavarian: ''Wös'') is a city in Upper Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is the county seat of Wels-Land, and with a population of approximately 60,000, the eighth largest city in Austria. Geography Wels is in the H ...

(Wels) as administrative center for the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celts, Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were th ...

. The legionary camp was subsequently also part of the fortifications of the limes and probably from the 3rd to the 5th century continuously occupied with Roman troops. In the north and south-west was an extensive civilian settlement, which was probably raised to the municipality in the early third century and rose to the bishop's seat of the northern Noricum in the 5th century. Grave fields could also be found at numerous places inside and outside the settlement area. Lauriacum auf TB

In the late period, it became the base for a patrol boat fleet and the production site of a state shield factory. After the abandonment of the border in Noricum and Rhaetia as a result of the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, Lauriacum once again played a historically important role in the evacuation of the Roman population by

Severinus of Noricum Severinus of Noricum ( 410 – 8 January 482) is a saint, known as the "Apostle to Noricum". It has been speculated that he was born in either Southern Italy or in the Roman province of Africa. Severinus himself refused to discuss his personal ...

. The bulk of the ancient building fabric fell victim to the extraction of stone material in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

and in modern times, various building activities,

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

use and

soil erosion Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, and ...

. The best preserved ancient and early medieval testimonies are the remains of their predecessors accessible in the lower church of the today's Basilica of St. Lawrence.

Middle Ages

Although today it is part of the city of Enns, the district was its own settlement in the

. The town emerged from the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Lauriacum, named for St Lawrence. Roman Lauriacum ( Lorch) was mentioned in the ''

Vita Sancti Severini Vita or VITA (plural vitae) is Latin for "life", and may refer to: * ''Vita'', the usual start to the title of a biography in Latin, by which (in a known context) the work is often referred to; frequently of a saint, then called hagiography * Vita ...

'' and the ''Lauriacensis scutaria (fabrica)''.

Notitia Dignitatum The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' (Latin for "The List of Offices") is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents of ...

. Between 1960 and 1966 archaeological excavations were used to open walls of Roman predecessors (dated from 180 AD). The first Christian church (4th–5th century) and other church buildings from the first millennium were also excavated. The town's present church is

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and was built around 1300.

Archaeology

After completion of the excavation work in 1966 St. Laurenz quickly received new attention: *1968: new survey of the town parish church *1968: survey of the first titular archbishopric of Central Europe; First titular archbishop of Lauriacum was

Girolamo Prigione Girolamo Prigione (12 October 1921 – 27 May 2016) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1951 to 1997. He became an archbishop in 1968 and from then until retirement held pos ...

, former nuncio in Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico. *1970: Ascent to the Basilica minor by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

. *1988: Visit by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, who conducted a ("Celebration of the word of God") liturgy at the Basilica of St. Lawrence with thousands of devotees in attendance.

Diocese of Lauriacum

Lauriacum is a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

,Eintrag auf ''Giga-Catholic''
/ref> and the

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the raised throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

was centered in the district of Lorch in the city of Enns. The ancient

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

may have been a somewhat structured missionary mission founded by Aquileia and moved to the Limes with the relocation of the capital of Noricum from

Teurnia Teurnia (later Tiburnia) was a Roman city (''municipium''). Today its ruins lie in western Carinthia. In late antiquity it was also a bishop's see, and towards the end of Roman times it was mentioned as the capital of the province of Noricum me ...

(in

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

Diocese of Tiburnia In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

) to

(Wels). In the turmoil of the

Migration Period The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...

, it was abandoned after the withdrawal of the Romans in 488, and was not replaced by the Bavarian and

Hiberno-Scottish mission The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a series of expeditions in the 6th and 7th centuries by Gaelic missionaries originating from Ireland that spread Celtic Christianity in Scotland, Wales, England and Merovingian France. Celtic Christianity spre ...

s at the dioceses of

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

and

Passau Passau (; bar, label=Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's popu ...

Known bishops

* Maximilian of Celeia ( fl about 284), the first bishop according to legend * Constantius of Lauriacum (5th century), head of the municipality of Enns, mentioned the ''

''. *

, apostolic nuncio, Apostolischer Pro-Nunctio, Apostolischer Delegat (1968–2016) *

Andrzej Józwowicz Andrzej Józwowicz (born 14 January 1965) is a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church who joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1997 and serves as the Apostolic Nuncio to Iran. An archbishop since 2017, he was Apostolic Nuncio to Rwanda ...

, apostolic nuncio, 2017–current

Lorcher fakes

The so-called '' Lorcher counterfeits'', also known as the ''Pilgrim Fakes'', were an attempt by Bishop Piligrim of Passau to claim the Diocese of Passau as the legitimate successor to the Diocese of Lauriacum. In the Basilica of St. Lawrence is an oversized painting (8 x 5 m) dating from 1728 which the corresponding bishops call and depict according to the Lorcher falsification.

References

{{reflist Roman towns and cities in Austria Buildings and structures in Upper Austria History of Upper Austria