St Verena
Benefactress to the poor and sick
It is said that St Verena was part of the Theban Legion that was decimated by a Roman military unit near Saint-Maurice in Valais at the end of the 3rd century because their leader, Maurice, and his people were Christians and refused to pray to the emperor. Verena escaped martyrdom and travelled first via Lausanne to Solothrun, where she lived as a hermit in the present-day Verenaschlucht canyon; later she moved downstream along the Aar as far as the Rhine.
She spent a long time in Bad Zurzach as benefactress to the poor and sick. She died there about AD 320. The Verena Minster is dedicated to her as a pilgrimage church with relics of the saint. This Coptic Christian is the most venerated saint in Switzerland after the Mother of God,
Memorial day: 1 September.