Theonistus

The Holy Theo Nest ( * in the 4th century; † in the 5th century in Poitiers) to have been bishop of Mainz in the first half of the 5th century.

Life

The church sources on the life of Theo nest and other vorbonifatianischer Mainz bishops in the period after the fall of the Roman Mogontiacum (350 to 450) as Crescens, Aureus and Maximus, are heavily influenced by legends. The name Theo Mast / Theonestus missing in the Bishop lists, but is preserved in other sources. Maybe he headed instead of the 406 displaced Aureus of Mainz church ..

The oldest testimony of Theo nest comes from a hagiographic work of Gregory of Tours, which he wrote 573-594.

" By Theo mast is reported that he was bishop of the city Meinz wonderfully according to the interpretation of his name in his holiness. For some reason he was expelled from the city and went to Poitiers. There he finished, holding on to the true faith, his present life. "

In the year 406 there was at Mainz Rhine crossing several Germanic groups, where the later is also venerated as a saint Alban was martyred in Mainz. According to tradition Alban was beheaded because he preached in Mainz against Arianism. Theo Mast / Theo nest, however, to have been stoned to death by the Arians, inserted into a perforated wine barrel and then pushed into the Rhine. This is told in the legend to the emergence of the name Kaub and would allow his later appearance in Poitiers.

After a martyrology of the Archbishop of Mainz Rabanus Maurus later tunes his Vita with that of Theo Nest ( Theonistus, Thonistus, Onistus ) of Altino, bishop of the island Namsia, agreed. The Mainzer historian Franz Staab reported in detail by three biographies of saints Theo nest.

Worship

Traditionally Theo nest is venerated as a saint in the diocese of Mainz. He was the Theo Nest chapel in Mainz Gartenfeld consecrated, which is occupied since 791 .. The chapel was named after the name of the notation Theo Mast " Dimesser place " built near the present-day customs and inland port. There, in addition to numerous civilian and military finds pieces of equipment and a late Roman burial ground were found. The Theo Nest chapel can possibly assign a Coemeterialkirche. According to Karl Johann Brilmayer the chapel was laid in the late 16th century.

In the 10th century, relics, which were assigned to the Holy Theo Nest, passed by the Bishop of Mainz Hildebert the Abbey of St. Alban against Mainz. Since the late Middle Ages Creszenz, Aureus and Theo nest there were revered as the city's patron. In addition, Theo nest is especially revered ( Altino ) in the diocese of Treviso.

The Feast of the Holy Theo Nest is a proper celebration of the diocese of Mainz and is celebrated according to the diocesan calendar on June 27. Today, the relics of Theo nest and other early Mainz saints are in a reliquary in the Ostkrypta of the Mainz Cathedral.