Saint Victor of Solothurn is a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church. He was a soldier of the

Theban Legion The Theban Legion (also known as the Martyrs of Agaunum) figures in Christian hagiography as a Roman legion from Egypt—"six thousand six hundred and sixty-six men"—who converted en masse to Christianity and were martyred together in 286, acc ...

led by

Saint Maurice Saint Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, or Mauritius; ) was an Egyptians, Egyptian military leader who headed the legendary Theban Legion of Roman Empire, Rome in the 3rd century, and is one of the favorite and most widely venerated saints of that Ma ...

and died in

Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the Capital (political), capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the n ...

Legend

Victor was one of the soldiers of the famous Theban legion that, under the leadership of Saint Maurice was dispatched to put down a revolt in Gaul. The soldiers came from the Egyptian city of Thebes, and were for the most part Christians. Sent to clear the

Great St Bernard Pass it, Colle del Gran San Bernardogerman: Grosser Sankt Bernhard , photo = Great St Bernard Pass.jpg , photo_caption = View of the pass and hospice from Great St Bernard Lake with Mont Vélan in background , elevation_m = 2469 , elevation_ref = ...

across the Alps, they arrived at

Agaunum Agaunum was an outpost in Roman Switzerland, predecessor of the modern city of Saint-Maurice in the canton of Valais, southwestern Switzerland. It was used by the Roman Empire for the collection of the '' Quadragesima Galliarum''. In Christian tr ...

, the present town of

Sankt-Moritz St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality i ...

in Switzerland. When ordered to harass some local Christians, they refused. They then refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods, because that would have meant betraying their own God. This cost them all their lives.

Otto of Freising Otto of Freising ( la, Otto Frisingensis; c. 1114 – 22 September 1158) was a German churchman of the Cistercian order and chronicled at least two texts which carries valuable information on the political history of his own time. He was Otto I ...

wrote in his '' Chronica de duabus civitatibus'' that many of the legionaries escaped and only some were executed at

, and the others apprehended later and put to death both at

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and

Köln Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

. Victor reached Solothurn near Bern before the Roman authorities caught up with him and he was beheaded.

Veneration

In 480 the body of St. Victor was brought to Geneva by the Burgundian Queen Theudelinde.Holweck, Frederick George. ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints'', B. Herder Book Company, 1924, p. 1001
/ref> He is buried in the former St-Victor's Basilica in Geneva. Victor is the patron saint of the city of Geneva. He and

Ursus of Solothurn Ursus of Solothurn was a 3rd-century Roman Christian venerated as a saint. He was associated very early with the Theban Legion and is recorded in the Roman Martyrology, with Victor of Solothurn on 30 September. Legend The ''Life of Ursus'' was ...

are patron saints of the Cathedral of St. Ursus and St. Victor in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. A relief on the front facade shows Saints Ursus and Victor refusing to worship idols. His feast day is 30 September.Akker S.J., A. van den, "Victor of Solothurn with Ursus", Heiligen.net
/ref>

References

{{authority control 3rd-century births Swiss saints 3rd-century Christian martyrs