Legend
Local tradition says he was a soldier of the Theban Legion, which had been commanded by Maurice. The legion is supposed to have been decimated at Agaunum in 286 AD, but Magnus fled to the mountains of Piedmont, preaching the Christian religion in the Alps.[1] He was eventually martyred and buried in the spot now occupied by the Santuario di San Magno.[1] The church, however, may have occupied a spot once dedicated to the Roman god Mars.[1] The current church was built between 1704 and 1716, in Piedmontese Baroque style, though its interior still preserves frescoes of the 15th and 16th centuries.[1]
As Damiano Pomi points out, neither documentary nor archaeological evidence supports the connection between Magnus and the Theban Legion.[1] Similar to the cults of Chiaffredo at Crissolo, Bessus at Val Soana, Tegulus at Ivrea, Constantius at Villar San Costanzo, and Dalmatius at Borgo San Dalmazzo, the cult of Magnus was linked with that of the Theban Legion to lend antiquity to a local saint about whom nothing was really known.[1]
Magnus has been identified with Magnus of Füssen (Mang), a later monk of the same name associated with the Bavarian monastery at Füssen, whose cult would have spread south to Piedmont by the Benedictines.[1] However, due to his association with the Theban Legion, Magnus was depicted as a Roman soldier holding a banner and the palm of martyrdom.[1] He should not be confused with Magnus of Anagni, whose feast day occurs on the same day.