Notes on St. Joder and anniversary stamp, translated by Fred Haines

YODER FAMILY INFORMATION--CYBERSPACE EDITION-1998

published by the Yoder Family Newsletter, Goshen, Indiana

St.Joder and the Anniversary Stamp

This data was translated in 1997 by Mr. Fred
Haines from the collected German text of Karl Joder and Ottmar
Jotter. The YNL wants to express it's deep appreciation to Mr.
Haines for his translating AND typing skills and for his willingness
to volunteer his time for the benefit of all Joder/Yoder descendants
around the world (particluarly those of us who speak English!)

Typescript on side of photocopy:

Photocopied extract from the Newspaper of the
Principality of Liechtenstein in Vaduz, from Wednesday, 10 June
1981

This 80-rappen postage stamp is the fourth
'Saint Joder' stamp published by the Postal Service in Vaduz.

In a box at upper left: Bishop Saint Joder
with a bunch of grapes. Patron saint of farmers and vintners.

Main article:
Wednesday, 10 June 1981

--- On the postage stamp issue of June 9

Saint Theodul or Saint Joder

The patron saint of Triesenberg, Saint Theodul
(or Saint Joder) is once again appearing on a Liechtenstein postage
stamp, in especially impressive form. Once again a worthy jubilee
is a legitimate occasion for the issuance of a special stamp,
this time in celebration of the 1600-year festival of this legendary saint. His
history, going back to the year 381, is presented by a scholar,
former Deacon Engelbert Bucher (Triesenberg). The horizontal stamp
shows the Theodul statue from the parish church of Laterns. The
sculpture, of about the year 1500, from the old Vorarlberg forest
settlement indubitably belongs to the most beautiful visual images
of the saint. The stamp was designed by Bruno Kaufmann and Walter
Wachter.

The original historical picture

Bishop Saint Theoduls, or Saint Joder, many
times changed in legend, is the first Bishop Theodore of Wallis
known to history. He lived in Octodurum (Martigny). In 381 he
took part in the bishops' synod of Aquileja. His presence is preserved
on the attendance list as 'Theodorus episcopus Octodorensis,'
which is why we celebrate his 1600 th jubilee this year. He is
probably the same Bishop Theodor who took part in a collocation
of bishops in Milan called by Ambrosius in 390. We have still
another notice of him: he found and reinterred the bones of Saint
Mauritius and his cohort, the Theban Legion, and had the first
church built over their graves in 360-70.

His celebration

When Octodurum became unsafe because of the
massive migrations of the sixth century, the Bishop's seat was
moved to the fortified town of Sitten. The bones of the first
bishop had to be taken along and were later exhibited to the admiration
of believers in a burial niche. This burial niche, an arched grave
similar to a sarcophagus, was rediscovered in the early sixties
by excavations in the crypt under Saint Theodul's Church in Sitten.
Four hundred years after his death the German-speaking Oberwalisers
who had migrated into the area were particularly devoted to the
cult of Saint Theodul. Four hundred years after that, when these
Walsers left their homeland, they took Saint Theodul over the
mountains with them as a father figure and patron saint. They
dedicated altars and bells to him, founded eternal seasons to
his honor, and erected statues of him. The adoration of Saint
Theodul is still alive among the Walsers today. Unfortunately,
the relics of Saint Theodul, which wound up in the fortified Valeria
Church, were lost to the plundering of French troops in the year
of the revolution, 1798.

The cult of Theodul is today found not only
in Wallis [Canton of Wallis or Valais] and among the Walsers but
in the rest of Switzerland as well. He cult radiates even to upper
Italy, France, southern Germany, and Austria. The festival of
Saint Theodul is celebrated on August 16.

The name

The actual and oldest name of our saint is
'Theodorus.' This is how he is called in the records of the bishops
synod of Aquileja, as well as in the oldest church books. The
Chapel at Masescha- Triesenberg was christened 'Chapel of Saint
Theodor on the Mountain' at the time of the Visitation of 16 October
1595.

The popular Alemanic form of the name, 'Saint
Joder,' stems from 'Saint Theodorus.' This probably took place
in Oberwallis. The progression was: Sanctus Theodorus - Sanctus
Tjordorus - Sankt Tjoder - Sant Tjoder - Sant Joder. This form
of the name has become rooted in the rest of Switzerland and is
thus widespread.

The name 'Saint Theodul' on the other hand
is probably the work of book scribes. In the handwriting of the
Middle Ages, a new spelling, 'Sanctus Theodolus,' suddenly emerges
along with the old Latin form 'Sanctus Theodorus.' This double
form accords with a not infrequent transformation of r to l in
the Latin of the Middle Ages. Finally, perhaps around the seventeenth
century, the name took the new form 'Theodol.

Yoder Newsletter - © Christopher K. Yoder, 1992,
1994