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286
Roman military commander executed along with Christians
During the persecutions of the Christians under the Roman emperors, a Roman military commander Maurice received an order to direct a persecution of Christians. He handed in his insignia to his assistant in order to join the Christians and be killed as a fellow believer. This took place in the Rhone valley in Switzerland about A.D. 286, against a giant cliff just under the peaks of the Dents du Midi. It is for him that the little town of Saint Maurice is named.