Exuperius or Exupernis is venerated as a

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, 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 external party. In ...

by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

; according to tradition, he was the

standard-bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a colour-bearer or flag-bearer, is a person 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 ...

of the

Theban Legion The Theban Legion (also known as the Martyrs of Agaunum) figures in Christianity, Christian hagiography as a Roman legion from Roman Egypt, Egypt —"six thousand six hundred and sixty-six men" — consisting of Christian soldiers who were marty ...

Henry Wace, ''A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines'' (1880), 439. and thus a companion to

Saint Maurice Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, Maurits, 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 favourite and most widely venerated saints of tha ...

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 near Gembloux in the province of Namur, Wallonia, Belgium. Since 1860, its buildings host the University of Liège's Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech faculty and campus (previously known as Agronomical University of ...

. 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 (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

and Saint Exuperius. The saint thus enjoyed special veneration at Gembloux;

Sigebert of Gembloux Sigebert or Sigibert of Gembloux ( or ; – 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 he became a ...

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