Saint Maurus

St. Maurus

Deacon, son of Equitius, a nobleman of Rome, but claimed also by Fondi, Gallipoli, Lavello etc.; died 584. Feast, 15 Jan. He is represented as an abbot with crozier, or with book and censer, or holding the weights and measures of food and drink given him by his holy master. He is the patron of charcoalburners, coppersmiths etc. -- in Belgium of shoemakers -- and is invoked against gout, hoarseness etc. He was a disciple of St. Benedict, and his chief support at Subiaco. By St. Gregory the Great (Lib. Dialog., II) he is described as a model of religious virtues, especially of obedience. According to the Vita ("Acta SS." II Jan., 320, and Mabillon "Acta SS. O.S.B.", I, 274) he went to France in 543 and became the founder and superior of the abbey at Glanfeuil, later known by his name. This Vita ascribed to a companion, the monk Faustus of Monte Cassino, has been severely attacked. Delehaye (loc. cit., 106) calls it a forgery of Abbot Odo of Glanfeuil in the ninth century but Adlhoch (Stud. u. Mittheil ., 1903, 3, 1906, l85) makes a zealous defence. On the Signum S. Mauri, a blessing of the sick with invocation of St. Maurus given in the Appendix of Rituale Romanum, see "Studien u. Mittheil." (1882), 165.

FRANCIS MERSMAN