St Felix and St Regula
Zurich’s witnesses to the faith (died about AD 302)
Felix and his sister Regula, together with their servant Exuperantius, belonged to the Theban Legion led by Maurice that was decimated in AD 302 near to the present-day Saint-Maurice in Valais because the legionnaires, who were Christians from Egypt, refused to pray to the Roman emperor as God. Felix and Regula escaped the massacre, travelled up through Valais over the Furka Pass to Andermatt, then down the Reuss valley to Altdorf, over the Klausen Pass into the Glarus region, where they stayed for a while, before finally following water until they reached Zurich, at the time an insignificant Roman fortification called Turricum. Here they attested their Christian faith in front of the Roman ruler and were beheaded. The Grossmünster (Great Minster) stands on the site where they were buried and Felix and Regula are its patron saints. The Wasserkirche (Water Church) is at the place where they were executed.
The relics of the two patron saints of Zurich are venerated in the St. Felix and Regula church. Their feast day is 11 September.
The altarpieces of the Felix and Regula Altar were painted by Hans Leu the Elder, and were formerly in the Twelve Apostles chapel of the Grossmünster; they were saved from the iconoclasm of the Reformation and are now in the Landesmuseum in Zurich.
Multimedia journey through Zurich: «A city and its martyrs»