Exuperius or Exupernis is venerated as a
saint
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
and
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
by the
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 ...
; according to tradition, he was the
standard-bearer
A standard-bearer, also known as a flag-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...
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 ...
[Henry Wace, ''A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines'' (1880), 439.] and thus a companion to
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 ...
.
Veneration
Exuperius’ relics were
translated
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
in the 10th century to
Gembloux Abbey
Gembloux Abbey was a Benedictine abbey in Wallonia near the town of Gembloux in the province of Namur, Belgium. Since 1860, its buildings host the University of Liège's Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech faculty and campus (previously known as Agronomical U ...
. This translation was performed by the monastery's founder,
Saint Guibert Saint Guibert of Gorze (892 - 23 May 962) is the founder of Gembloux Abbey, in Gembloux (Namur, Belgium). He was canonized in 1211. Saint Guibert's Day is observed on 23 May.
Biography
An aristocrat from Lotharingia who had participated in several ...
(Guibertus), who dedicated the monastery in honor of
Saint Peter
Saint Peter; he, שמעון בר יונה, Šimʿōn bar Yōnāh; ar, سِمعَان بُطرُس, translit=Simʿa̅n Buṭrus; grc-gre, Πέτρος, Petros; cop, Ⲡⲉⲧⲣⲟⲥ, Petros; lat, Petrus; ar, شمعون الصفـا, Sham'un ...
and Saint Exuperius.
The saint thus enjoyed special veneration at Gembloux;
Sigebert of Gembloux
Sigebert of Gembloux (Sigebertus Gemblacensis; 1030 – 5 October 1112) was a medieval author, known mainly as a pro-Imperial historian of a universal chronicle, opposed to the expansive papacy of Gregory VII and Pascal II. Early in his life h ...
wrote a long poem on the martyrdom of the Theban Legion.
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Sigebert of Gembloux
/ref> The buildings of the abbey, which largely survived, are used for the Agronomical University of Gembloux.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Exuperius
3rd-century Christian martyrs
286 deaths
Year of birth unknown
Military saints