Candidus of Agaunum

Saint Candidus the Martyr was one of the commanders of the Theban Legion, made up of Christians from Upper Egypt, who received the crown of martyrdom at Agaunum, in present-⁠day Switzerland, at the end of the third century. The Church remembers him on 22 September.

Candidus is first mentioned by Bishop Eucherius of Lyon, around 434, as one of the senior officers of the legion under Saint Maurice. Among the legion's captains were also Saints Innocent, Exuperius, Victor and Constantine. Candidus is called Maurice's senator militum, that is, a staff officer.

When the emperor Maximian ordered the legion to harass the Christians of that region, Candidus, like Maurice, the other officers and the 6,600 soldiers, refused. According to tradition he said: "We are your soldiers, but we are also servants of the true God. We cannot renounce Him who is our Creator and Master, and also yours, even though you reject Him." According to tradition they were all put to death at Agaunum, the place now called Saint-⁠Maurice-⁠en-⁠Valais.

The relics of Candidus were kept in a sixth-⁠century reliquary at the abbey of Saint-⁠Maurice d'Agaune, where his skull is preserved in a silver bust in the abbey's treasury. Other relics are at Fucecchio in Italy, where he is honoured as patron of the town, and in a few churches in California.