Yesterday, 3 December 2017 / 24 Hatour 1734, marked the 18th anniversary since the relics of the Egyptian saint St Verena were brought home to Egypt from Switzerland. On that date in October 1999 (24 Hatour 1716), Anba Pimen, Bishop of Nagada and Qous, brought the saint’s relics from the church consecrated in her name in Zurzach, Switzerland, and placed them at the church of Mar-Girgis (St George) and St Verena in Garagos, Qena, some 600km south of Cairo. Garagos is St Verena’s birthplace.
In 2013, Anba Piemen brought to Garagos the relics of her brother, St Maurice of the Theban Legion, and placed them in a shrine in the same church.
Throughout three days that began 30 November 2017 and extended to the St Verena’s feast day on 3 December, services were held at the Garagos church, during which hymns and praises were sung in honour of the saint. The relics of St Verena, together with those of St George, St Maurice, and St Victor and St Ursus of the Theban Legion, were carried in a procession that marched around the altar and nave of the church amid joyful singing and ululations from the congregation.
St Verena was the sister of St Maurice who was an officer with the Theban Legion—Thebes, present-day’s Luxor, was the capital city in Upper Egypt—that was in the third century assigned to fight for the Roman empire in Rhaetia which is today Switzerland. She accompanied her brother on the Theban Legion’s expedition to the Swiss Alps, to serve the soldiers and care for them. Being Christian, St Maurice and several of his Egyptian colleagues were martyred for their faith. They are today the patron saints of Zurich.
Verena stayed on in the Alps near present-day Zurich after her brother’s death, living a life of prayer and worship in a cave in the mountains. She used to go down to the nearby villages to serve the poor and sick; it helped that she had extensive knowledge of herbal healing. She was especially interested in caring for girls and young women, and gained a reputation for teaching them practices of health and personal hygiene. She is usually depicted caring for the sick, or standing with a pitcher of water in one hand and a typical Egyptian double-comb in the other. It is said that she performed many miracles. She died in Switzerland in 344 at age 64.
Watani International
4 December 2017