Map of the Danubeian Limes. Reconstruction of the camp and adjoining oppidium.Lauriacum was an important

legion Legion may refer to: Military * Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army * Spanish Legion, an elite military unit within the Spanish Army * Legion of the United States, a reorganization of the United States Army from 179 ...

ary Roman town on the Danube Limes in

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

Where 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 D ...

built a legion camp around 200 AD, after the abandonment of an older site in Albing, during the subsequent 400 years of its occupation as headquarters and next to Virunum (In the area of today's

Zollfeld Zollfeld ( sl, Gosposvetsko polje) is a slightly ascending plain in Carinthia, Austria. It is one of the oldest cultural landscapes in the East Alpine region. Geography It is from to wide and about long, with an elevation between above sea ...

Maria Saal Maria Saal ( sl, Gospa Sveta) is a market town in the district of Klagenfurt-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is located in the east of the historic Zollfeld plain (''Gosposvetsko polje''), the wide valley of the Glan river. The muni ...

) and Ovilava (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 Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the nor ...

. The legionary camp was subsequently also part of the fortifications of the

limes Limes may refer to: * the plural form of lime (disambiguation) Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a ...

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, which was until now only historically demonstrable. Grave fields could also be found at numerous places inside and outside the settlement area. Lauriacum on the Tabula Peutingeriana. 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 Severin of Norikum. 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 ...

and in modern times, various building activities,

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

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, a ...

. 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. Laurence, Lorch In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its nam ...

Middle Ages

Although today part of the city of Enns, the district was in the

its own settlement. The town has 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 lett ...

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 o ...

of Lauriacum, named for

St Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...

. Roman Lauriacum ( Lorch) was mentioned in the Vita Sancti Severini 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 o ...

. Basilika of St. Laurenz Between 1960 and 1966 archaeological excavations were used to open walls of Roman predecessors (dated from 180 AD), also excavated was the first Christian church (4th–5th century) and other church buildings from the first millennium. 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, 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, with thousands of devotees, celebrated a worship of God at the Lorcher Basilica.

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 archbi ...

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 principal ...

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

diocese 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 associ ...

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 Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Bavarian group. Carin ...

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 associat ...

) to Ovilava (Wels). In the turmoil of the immigration of the peoples, it was abandoned after the withdrawal of the Romans in 488, and was not replaced by the Baier and Iro-Scottish missions at the dioceses of

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

and

Diocese of Passau The Diocese of Passau is a Roman Catholic diocese in Germany that is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.Maximilian of Celeia Saint Maximilian of Lorch (also: Maximilian of Celeia, Latin: ''Maximilianus'') (died 12 October 288) was a missionary in the Roman province of Noricum. He was martyred in AD 288. Maximilian was born in Celeia in the Roman province of Noricum ...

( fl about 284), the first bishop according to legend * Constantius of Lauriacum (5th century), head of the municipality of Enns, mentioned in Vita Severini. *

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 ...

Apostolic Nunctio, 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 Rwand ...

Apostolic Nunctio (2017–current)

Lorcher fakes

The so-called Lorcher counterfeits, also known as the Pilgrim Fakes were an attempt by Piligrim, of Passau, to claim the

Diocese of Passau The Diocese of Passau is a Roman Catholic diocese in Germany that is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.Lauracum. In the basilica of St. Laurent is an oversized painting (8x5 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