Livarius of Marsal

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Statue of St. Livarius as a medieval knight in armor , Segolenakirche , Metz (19th century)
Martyrdom of St. Livarius, Segolenakirche, Metz

According to legendary tradition, Saint Livarius ( French Saint Livier or Saint Livaire ) was a Christian nobleman and soldier from Metz , whose martyrdom fell during the Huns (5th century) or Hungarian invasions (10th century). He is one of the legendary cephalophores ("head carriers ").

Vita and martyrdom

It is reported that at the age of 17, Livarius is said to have accompanied his father on a campaign against Lombard barbarians. He is also said to have made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and married a daughter of the King of Armenia , with whom he had two children.

Livarius is said to have returned to his hometown of Metz around the year 450 and, at the head of an army, fought the Huns and tried to convert them to Christianity. Attila , the king of the Huns, is said to have personally beheaded Livarius at Moyenvic . By a divine miracle Livarius lifted his head and climbed a hill, on which he was then buried.

Other traditions place the death of St. Livarius in the time of the Hungarian invasions around the year 900. With regard to the place of death, Marsal , the neighboring community of Moyenvic, is also mentioned.

Adoration

Altar in the cathedral of Metz with the relics of St. Livarius in the stipes

In the Pontiffroy district of Metz, the church of St. Livier was consecrated to the saint in the Middle Ages and his relics were transferred here. Following the abolition of the parish in the French Revolution and its partial destruction when the historic buildings in the Metz district of Pontiffroy were demolished in the 1970s, the sacred building is now only preserved as a ruin . The right Choir Chapel of the Cathedral of Metz continues the patronage of the former parish church since 23. May. 1868 The relics of the Metz city ​​patron are kept here in the stipes of the altar. In Metz, the Hôtel Saint-Livier also bears the saint's name.

The feast days of the city patron and martyr of Metz are July 17th and November 25th.

presentation

Medieval representations of the saint are not known. The Metz cathedral builder Auguste Dujardin (1847–1921) produced a rich sculpture portal in 1896/98 under the direction of the architect Conrad Wahn for the newly built neo-Gothic west facade of the Metz Segolenakirche , which also thematizes the life of St. Livarius as Metz city patron.

literature

  • Charles Pénin: Moyenvic, passé et présent d'un village du Saulnois, Saargemünd 1988.
  • Alphonse de Rambervillers: Les actes admirables en prospérité, en adversité et en gloire du bienheureux Martyr Sainct Livier, Gentil-homme d'Austrasie, (..), à Vic, par Claude Félix imprimeur, 1624, 100 p., 1 gravure de Jacques Callot .
  • Vera Schauber and Hanns Michael Schindler: saints and namesake in the course of the year, Augsburg 1998, p. 609.
  • Antoine-Charles-Xavier de Tinseau: Vie de saint Livier, martyr de l'Église, 2nd edition, Metz 1886.
  • Roger Wadier: Légends lorraines de mémoire Celte, Saargemünd 2004.
  • François Anatole Weyland: Vie des saints du diocèse de Metz, nos saints, Volume IV, Giningen 1910.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vera Schauber and Hanns Michael Schindler: Saints and Patrons of the Year, Augsburg 1998, p. 609.
  2. ↑ Jean-Baptiste Pelt: La Cathédrale de Metz, 3rd edition, Metz 1937, pp. 114–119.
  3. ↑ Marie-Isabelle and Philippe Hiegel Soupart: The Cathedral of Metz, a translation of Susanna Prause, Metz 2003, p. 28
  4. ↑ RS Bour: A tour of the Metz churches and chapels. in: A. Ruppel (Ed.): Lothringen and his capital, A collection of orienting essays. Metz 1913, pp. 431-432.
  5. ^ Niels Wilcken: From the dragon Graully to the Center Pompidou-Metz - Metz, a cultural guide. Merzig 2011, pp. 99-108.