FIDELIS, SAINT (MARKUS ROY): German Capuchin; b. at Sigmaringen (30 m. n.e. of Constance) 1577; d. at Seewis (32 m. s.e. of Schwyz) Apr. 24, 1622. He received a thorough education and studied law at Freiburg until 1603, after which he traveled extensively, and in 1611 settled at Ensisheim as a lawyer. In the same year, he entered the Capuchin Order under the name of Pater Fidelis; after his ordination he studied theology at the monasteries of Constance and Frauenfeld. He then became parish priest successively at Rheinfelden and Freiburg, and finally guardian in the monastery of Feldkirch. When the Austrians and Spaniards seized a portion of the Swiss territories in 1620 and sought to reconvert them to the Roman Catholic Church, the Congregation of the Propaganda placed Fidelis at the head of the Rhetian mission. On the day of his death he preached in the church of Seewis under the protection of a detachment of soldiers, whereupon the desperate peasants captured the church and routed the troops, murdering the fleeing preacher in the street. His corpse was first buried at Seewis and later at Chur, while his head was interred at Feldkirch. He was canonized by Benedict XIV. on June 29, 1746.

(E. BLÖSCH†.)