Thundering Legion
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary [1]
A name given to those Christians who served in the Roman army of Marcus Antoninus, in the second century. The occasion of it was this:
When that emperor was at war with the Marcomanni, his army was enclosed by the enemy, and reduced to the most deplorable condition by the thirst under which they languished in a parched desert. Just at this time they were remarkably relieved by a sudden and unexpected rain. This event was attributed to the Christians, who were supposed to have effected this by their prayers; and the name of the thundering legion was given to them, on account of the thunder and lightning that destroyed the enemy, while the shower revived the fainting Romans. Whether this was really miraculous or not, has been disputed among learned men. They who wish to see what has been said on both sides, may consult Witsius Dissertat. de Legione Fulminatrice, which is subjoined to his AEgyptiaca, in defense of this miracle; as also, what is alleged against it by Dan Lauroque, in a discourse upon that subject subjoined to the Adversaria Sucra of Matt. Lauroque, his father. The controversy between Sir Peter King and Mr. Moyle upon this subject is also worthy of attention.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
(Legio fulminatrix), the title of a Roman legion in the time of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, which, after the expulsion of the Marcomnanni and Quadi from Hungary, while the emperor Aurelius was pursuing these German tribes with a detachment of his forces (A.D. 174), was shut up in a valley surrounded on every side by high mountains, and both by the heat of the weather and the want of water was suffering more cruelly than from the attacks of the enemy, when suddenly, in this crisis, a shower of rain reanimated the Roman soldiers, while at the same time a storm of hail, attended with thunder, assailed the enemy, who were then easily repulsed and conquered. Both heathen and Christian authors agree in their relation of the principal circumstances of this event. The adherents of each religion saw in it the influence of the prayers of their brethren. According to Dio Cassius (Excerpta Xiphilin. I, 71, cap. 8), the miracle was wrought by an Elgyptian sorcerer in the train of the emperor; according to Capitolinus (Vita Marc. Aurel. cap. 24), it was the effect of the emperor's prayers; but according to Tertullian (Apologet. cap. 5; Ad Scopul. cap. 4) and Eusebius (Hist. Eccles. lib. 5, cap. 5), it was brought about by the prayers of the Christians in his army; hence the legion to which these Christians belonged was denominated fulminatrix. The letter of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, commonly printed in Greek in the first Apology of Justin Martyr, gives the same account with the Christian writers, but it is spurious. The marble pillar erected at Rome in honor of Marcus Aurelius, and still standing, represents this deliverance of the Roman arm — the Roman soldiers catching the falling rain, and a warrior praying for its descent. It is not, however, to be considered as a memorial of any influence exercised by the Christians in that event. See Milman, History of Christianity, 2:145 sq.; Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. I, bk. 1, cent. 2, part 1, chap. 1, § 9; Pressense, History of Early Christianity, p. 129. (J. H. W.)
