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The reliquary from Säben
In the Late Antique and Early Middle Ages Christianity spread rapidly throughout Europe. Numerous early Christian churches were founded. Many of them had a recess under the altar for relics. In the early Christian church of Säben such a container was found made of white sandstone. The narrow sides are decorated by crosses with arms of equal length and slightly flared ends. In each of the two long sides is a six-leaf rosette in a circle. The original lid is missing. The relics were lost because the container was used at a later date to build a Baroque altar. The 30 x 20 x 21 cm reliquary from Säben dates from the 5th or 6th century AD.
Relic worship
Relic worship became prevalent in Europe among the followers of Christianity. This stands in stark contrast to the Roman belief that touching the dead was unclean. Relics were usually body parts or personal objects of saints or martyrs, whose bodies or skeletons were often exhumed, divided up, and distributed among the churches. However the authenticity of many relics is doubtful.
Special containers, known as reliquaries, were made to hold relics. Priests placed such reliquaries (link to Text Säben reliquaries) in a reliquary chamber when a church was consecrated. Most reliquary chambers were under the altar. On special occasions the relics could be brought out and touched by the faithful.
Early Christian churches
From the 5th century AD the first early Christian churches were built in the valleys to the south of the Main Alpine Ridge. From the 4th century the local populations built their villages on protected hills, because Germanic tribes continued to plunder in the Alpine region. To defend themselves the inhabitants built castra – elevated settlements with defensive walls. The church buildings within these castra prove that people lived within their walls permanently, not just occasionally.
Most early Christian churches in Central Europe consisted of a rectangular nave where the faithful sat. Adjacent to this on the eastern side was a semicircular or square chancel. A stone bench along the wall of the chancel where the priests sat was typical of early Christian churches in the Alpine region. The nave and chancel, the so-called presbyterium, were separated by shoulder-high wooden or stone choir stalls. The reliqua¬ry (link to ObText 30: Relic worship) was situated under the altar. Unlike the wooden houses of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the churches were built of stone. Church towers were not common in those times.
Säben – a bishops seat from the late Antique period
A large early Christian church with an attached baptistry has stood on the impressive “holy mountain” of Säben near Klausen (map and panorama photo) since the 5th century AD. By the 6th century AD Säben was also a bishop’s seat. The first Säben bishop ever mentioned, Maternius, attended a synod in the northern Italian city of Grado in 572/577 AD. In 590 Bishop Ingenuin of Säben signed a letter during another episcopal gathering in Marano near the northern Italian city of Aquileia. Säben is then no longer mentioned in the historical records of the 7th century and the first half of the 8th century. Records resume only with Bishop Alim in 769 AD. In the 10th century the Bishop of Säben moved to Brixen.
The diocese of Säben was founded from Aquileia. This is reflected in the early Christian double church with a baptistry, whose architecture is based on that of the church at Aquileia.
Romans buried their dead at Säben from the time the first church was built until 700 AD. From the early 7th century Säben also served as a burial place for Germanic tribes that had moved into the region.
