Lauriacum (or Laureacum) was an important

legion Legion may refer to: Military * Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army * Aviazione Legionaria, Italian air force during the Spanish Civil War * A legion is the regional unit of the Italian carabinieri * Spanish Legion, ...

ary Roman town on the Danube Limes in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

History

Roman era

Initially only a small Roman settlement was located at a ford over the Enns. The

Legio II Italica Legio II Italica ("Italian Second Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. Formation Originally having the ''cognomen'' ''Pia'', the legion was raised alongside III ''Italica'' by emperor Marcus Aurelius when legions sent from the Da ...

built a legion camp around 200 AD, after the abandonment of an older site in Albin next to Virunum (In the area of today's

Zollfeld Zollfeld () is a slightly ascending plain in Carinthia, Austria with interspersed small woods, hills, and swamps. It is one of the oldest cultural landscapes in the East Alpine region. Geography It is from to wide and about long, with an ele ...

Maria Saal Maria Saal () is a market town in the district of Klagenfurt-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is located in the east of the historic Zollfeld plain (''Gosposvetsko polje''), the wide valley of the Glan River. The municipality includes ...

) and Ovilava (Wels) as administrative center for the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the north, R ...

. The legionary camp was subsequently also part of the fortifications of the

limes Limes may refer to: * ''Limes'' (Roman Empire), a border marker and defense system of the Roman Empire * ''Limes'' (Italian magazine), an Italian geopolitical magazine * ''Limes'' (Romanian magazine), a Romanian literary and political quarterly ma ...

and probably from the 3rd to the 5th century continuously occupied with Roman troops. In the north and south-west was an extensive civilian settlement, which was probably raised to the municipality in the early third century and rose to the bishop's seat of the northern Noricum in the 5th century. Grave fields could also be found at numerous places inside and outside the settlement area. Lauriacum auf TB

In the late period, it became the base for a patrol boat fleet and the production site of a state shield factory. After the abandonment of the border in Noricum and Rhaetia as a result of the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, Lauriacum once again played a historically important role in the evacuation of the Roman population by

Severinus of Noricum Severinus of Noricum ( 410 – 8 January 482) is a saint, known as the "Apostle to Noricum". It has been speculated that he was born in either Southern Italy or in the Roman province of Africa. Severinus himself refused to discuss his personal h ...

. The bulk of the ancient building fabric fell victim to the extraction of stone material in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and in modern times, various building activities,

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

use and

soil erosion Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the Topsoil, upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, Atmosphere of Ea ...

. The best preserved ancient and early medieval testimonies are the remains of their predecessors accessible in the lower church of the today's Basilica of St. Lawrence.

Middle Ages

Although today it is part of the city of Enns, the district was its own settlement in the

. The town emerged from the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of Lauriacum, named for

St Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence (; 31 December 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman emperor Valerian ordered in 258. ...

. Roman Lauriacum ( Lorch) was mentioned in the '' Vita Sancti Severini'' and the ''Lauriacensis scutaria (fabrica)''.

Notitia Dignitatum The (Latin for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') is a document of the Late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very ...

. Between 1960 and 1966 archaeological excavations were used to open walls of Roman predecessors (dated from 180 AD). The first Christian church (4th–5th century) and other church buildings from the first millennium were also excavated. The town's present church is Gothic and was built around 1300.

Archaeology

After completion of the excavation work in 1966 St. Laurenz quickly received new attention: *1968: new survey of the town parish church *1968: survey of the first titular archbishopric of Central Europe; First titular archbishop of Lauriacum was

Girolamo Prigione Girolamo Prigione (12 October 1921 – 27 May 2016) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1951 to 1997. He became an archbishop in 1968 and from then until retirement held po ...

, former nuncio in Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico. *1970: Ascent to the Basilica minor by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

. *1988: Visit by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

, who conducted a ("Celebration of the word of God") liturgy at the Basilica of St. Lawrence with thousands of devotees in attendance.

Diocese of Lauriacum

Lauriacum is a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

of the

Roman 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 ...

,Eintrag auf ''Giga-Catholic''
/ref> and the

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

was centered in the district of Lorch in the city of Enns. The ancient

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

may have been a somewhat structured missionary mission founded by Aquileia and moved to the Limes with the relocation of the capital of Noricum from

Teurnia Teurnia (later Tiburnia) was a Roman Empire, Roman city (''municipium''). Today its ruins lie in western Carinthia (state), Carinthia. In Late Antiquity, late antiquity it was also a bishop's see, and towards the end of Roman times it was mention ...

(in

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

, Diocese of Tiburnia) to Ovilava (Wels). In the turmoil of the

Migration Period The Migration Period ( 300 to 600 AD), also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories ...

, it was abandoned after the withdrawal of the Romans in 488, and was not replaced by the Bavarian and

Hiberno-Scottish mission The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a series of expeditions in the 6th and 7th centuries by Gaels, Gaelic Missionary, missionaries originating from Ireland that spread Celtic Christianity in Scotland, Wales, History of Anglo-Saxon England, England a ...

s at the dioceses of

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

and

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

Known bishops

* Maximilian of Celeia ( fl about 284), the first bishop according to legend * Constantius of Lauriacum (5th century), head of the municipality of Enns, mentioned the '' Vita Sancti Severini''. *

apostolic nuncio An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

, Apostolischer Pro-Nunctio, Apostolischer Delegat (1968–2016) *

Andrzej Józwowicz Andrzej Józwowicz (born 14 January 1965) is a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church who joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1997 and serves as the Apostolic Nuncio to Iran. An archbishop since 2017, he was Apostolic Nuncio to Rwan ...

, 2017–current

Lorcher fakes

The so-called '' Lorcher counterfeits'', also known as the ''Pilgrim Fakes'', were an attempt by Bishop

Pilgrim of Passau Pilgrim (or Piligrim, Pilegrinus, Peregrinus; died 20 May 991) was Bishop of Passau. Pilgrim was ambitious, but also concerned with the Christianization of Hungary. Life He was educated at the Benedictine Niederaltaich Abbey, and was made bisho ...

to claim the

Diocese of Passau The Diocese of Passau (; ) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany that is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.Basilica of St. Lawrence is an oversized painting (8 x 5 m) dating from 1728 which the corresponding bishops call and depict according to the Lorcher falsification.

References

{{reflist Roman towns and cities in Austria Buildings and structures in Upper Austria History of Upper Austria