ON BLESSED MORICUS, OF THE ORDER OF CRUCIFERS AND FRIARS MINOR.
YEAR 1236
CommentaryMoricus, of the Order of Crucifers and Friars Minor (Blessed)
[1] Philip Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, published in the year 1613, refers at this March 30, among other Saints, to the praise of Blessed Moricus of the Order of Crucifers and Friars Minor, he is celebrated with an Ecclesiastical Office: and notes that the Crucifer Brothers celebrate him on this day with an Ecclesiastical Office, but does not know whether by concession of the Apostolic See. Meanwhile, in his General Catalogue published in the year 1625, he again celebrates him with these words: At Assisi, of Blessed Moricus, of the Order of Friars Minor. he is called both Saint and Blessed: Silvester Marulus or Maurolycus, in book 1 of the Ocean of All Religious Orders, page 48, describes the Origin of the Crucifers, and on page 51 enumerates various Saints of the same Order, and among them counts Saint Moricus, who, divinely moved on account of a miracle which the Seraphic Francis worked in his person, assumed the habit of his Order. Nicolaus Brautius, Bishop of Sarsina, in his Poetic Martyrology concerning St. Moricus of the Order of Crucifers and Friars Minor, sings these lines:
A Crucifer, falling ill and healed, enters the cloisters of the Minors, And from them goes blessed to the stars.
Again, concerning the austerity and length of life of the same Saint Moricus, he adds:
Girt with a shirt of iron, living only on herbs, He led a robust life and died an old man.
[2] Francis Gonzaga, in the first part of the Seraphic Religious Order, among the Blessed whom he enumerates there, says: Blessed Moricus the Little, and companion of Blessed Father Francis, who, laboring with a grave illness in the hospital of the Walls near Assisi, first professed the Order of Crucifers, then, content with a single tunic, led a poor life: he died at Orvieto, and there he rests. But St. Bonaventure in his Life of St. Francis provides more with these words: At that time a religious man of the Order of Crucifers,
named Moricus, was suffering in a certain hospital near Assisi from an illness so grave and so prolonged healed by St. Francis: that he was already judged close to death by the doctors; he made supplication to the man of God, urgently requesting through a messenger that he deign to intercede for him with the Lord. The blessed Father kindly consenting, after offering a prayer, took crumbs of bread and, mixing them with oil taken from the lamp that burned before the altar of the Virgin, transmitted a kind of electuary through the hands of the Brothers to the sick man, saying: Carry this medicine to our Brother Moricus, by which the power of Christ will not only restore him to full health, but will also make him a robust warrior and join him steadfastly to our battle line. As soon as the sick man tasted that antidote, he is joined to him: prepared by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he rose up healthy and obtained from God such vigor of mind and body that shortly after entering the holy man's religious order, and covering himself with but a single tunic, beneath which he long wore a coat of mail against his flesh; and content with only raw foods, he lives austerely: herbs or vegetables and fruits, he did not taste bread or wine for many periods of five years, yet persevering strong and healthy.
[3] So says St. Bonaventure, whose words Tossinianus then copied verbatim in book 1, chapter 4; Mark of Lisbon, Wadding, Ferrarius, and generally others also follow them. Bartholomew of Pisa, in book 1 of the Conformities, fruit 8, part 2, reports that the following conversation took place between St. Francis and Moricus: To this Brother Moricus, he disputes about food on the Nativity of Christ: he says, when the Nativity of Christ fell on a Friday and there was a question about eating meat, and Brother Moricus said that they should not be eaten because of Friday (and this was before the confirmation of the second Rule), Blessed Francis said: You sin, Brother Moricus, in calling Friday a day on which the child Jesus was born for us. I wish that even the walls would eat meat on such a day, if it were possible, or at least be smeared on the outside. So that passage. Arthur du Monstier in the first edition of the Franciscan Martyrology had referred him to August 27; afterwards in the second edition he also celebrated his memory on this March 30 with these words: At Orvieto, of Blessed Moricus, Confessor, disciple of the Seraphic Father St. Francis, who shone forth notably for his wonderful abstinence and austerity of life. he is reported to have been born at Assisi: Louis Jacobilli, writing On the Saints of Umbria, investigates various things about him and asserts that his homeland was Assisi: that this is read in many manuscript Chronicles and is reported by Mark of Lisbon, Felix, Bini, and others: nor could he, according to the statutes of this city, have been admitted otherwise to the said Hospital, which he says was called that of St. Savior of the Walls, and is now called that of the Lepers. he was called "little": Furthermore, he says Blessed Moricus was called the Little or Small, and another Philip, a disciple of St. Francis, was called the Tall, from each one's own stature. He says that Ambrose of Massa was a disciple of Blessed Moricus, about whose life and miracles an authentic investigation was made by command of Gregory IX. teacher of Ambrose of Massa: Finally, he says that Blessed Moricus in the last years of his life resided in the convent of Orvieto, he died in the year 1236: and there, renowned for the holiness of his life and the power of his miracles, he departed to the heavenly homeland on March 30 of the year 1236.