ON ST. MAURUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,
AT PIACENZA IN ITALY.
About 430.
A HISTORICAL COLLECTION.
Of the saint's cultus, of the time in which he is believed to have flourished and died, and of his deeds.
Maurus, bishop and confessor, at Piacenza in Italy (St.)
BY J. S.
Among the prelates of Piacenza in Italy St. Maurus is numbered the third, successor of St. Sabinus, St. Maurus, who is venerated today, of whom there was treatment among us at the 17th day of January. This saint the people of Piacenza venerate on the 13th day of September with an Office of double rite, as is clear from their proper Offices printed in the year 1635, where at the 13th of September a double Office is prescribed, and of St. Maurus it is added: Whose body is placed in the basilica of St. Savinus at Piacenza. The memory of St. Maurus at this day is celebrated in Ferrari in both Catalogues, and most lately in Castellanus. The former in the General Catalogue has thus: At Piacenza in Gallia Togata, of St. Maurus the bishop. He gives more in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, but we shall presently recite these from the Office, from which he drew his own material. Castellanus observes that the body is honored in the church of St. Sabinus. At greater length Pietro Maria Campi reports the deeds of St. Maurus in his History of Piacenza written in Italian. Fewer things concerning St. Maurus Umberto Locati narrated in his work On the Origin of Piacenza. A eulogy of the saint too Ughelli wove in the Catalogue of the bishops of Piacenza, tom. 2 of Italia Sacra, col. 197 of the latest edition.
[2] The praised writers agree that Maurus flourished in the fifth century, he was the third bishop of Piacenza, in the fifth century, and was the third bishop of Piacenza and the successor of St. Sabinus. They agree well enough also about the year in which Maurus was translated to a better life. Ughelli fixes the beginning of the episcopate in the year 420, and the saint's death in the year 449, attributing to him twenty-nine years of episcopate, with Umberto Locati. The same year of death Ferrari too notes in his notes on the General Catalogue, although he had written differently in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy. Campi, book 5 of the History, p. 125, likewise begins St. Maurus' episcopate from the year 420, and on p. 140 fixes his death in the year 449, after nearly twenty-nine years of episcopate. But of this chronology I find no reasons alleged, no authority of any ancient monument. Hence in giving the lesson of the Office those years were, I think, more rightly passed over. Castellanus notes that Maurus died in the year 445, perhaps because he is asserted to have died in that year in Ferrari's notes on the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy.
[3] But to me, while I trace some foundations of chronology in the predecessors and successors of Maurus, and he seems to have died not in the year 449, Maurus seems to have come to the episcopate not a few years earlier, and likewise to have died earlier. The same seemed also to my predecessors at the 17th of January in St. Sabinus, whose death they fixed at the end of the fourth century. It is certain, and admitted by all, that St. Sabinus was at the council of Aquileia in the year 381, and he is read subscribed to it in the sixth place, before many others, as may be seen in Labbe, tom. 2 of the Councils, col. 978. And so he seems to have been among the elder bishops of that council, so that it can with difficulty be believed that Sabinus afterward survived thirty-nine years and lived until the year 420. Equally improbable does it appear to me that Maurus lived until the year 449. Certainly Majoranus was bishop of Piacenza in the year 451, in which he was present at the council of Milan, and subscribed in the third place to the letter of St. Eusebius of Milan to Pope St. Leo. See
Labbe, tom. 3, col. [ ]. Further, from the place in which Majoranus subscribed, it becomes likely that he was bishop for some years at least before the year 451. Besides, between Maurus and Majoranus, Florianus is placed in the middle by all, to whom sometimes nine, sometimes eleven, sometimes thirteen years of episcopate are attributed, as Campi admits on p. 140 — although he himself is forced to attribute only a few months to Florianus, because he fixed the death of St. Sabinus too late.
[4] but rather between 420 and 430, or about 430. Wherefore, since St. Sabinus became known by no deed after the death of St. Ambrose, who died before the end of the fourth century, it is more probable that Sabinus died before the end of that same century, or certainly at the beginning of the next, and that St. Maurus was then substituted for him — of whose deeds we have no chronological note. But if Maurus sat 29 years, as the writers of Piacenza assert, his death can broadly be fixed between the years 420 and 430, or about 430, so that the death of Florianus may likewise broadly be placed about 440, and thus Majoranus may have been bishop long enough when he was present at the council of Milan. I find nothing which conflicts with this or a like chronology. Wherefore I judge that this should be followed, until more certain monuments be found. Nevertheless the matter can be examined further in St. Victor, who was the first bishop of Piacenza, and is venerated on the 7th day of December.
[5] A eulogy of the saint from the Office: As concerns now the deeds of St. Maurus, which appear more probable than the rest, they are recited in the Office, whose fourth lesson is put together thus: Maurus, bishop of Piacenza, a man of marvelous continence and humility. He, the more removed he lived from all love of perishable things, the more illustrious he became in the fame of his sanctity and the more excellent in the glory of his miracles. He was frequent in prayer, given to fasting and vigils, assiduous in the Offices of the divine praises. He saw to it that the body of holy Savinus the bishop, who before him had presided over the same church, and likewise the bodies of the holy Gelasius, Victor, and several others, should be buried more honorably. He ruled the church always with the greatest care and diligence most happily. At last, having discharged many labors for the glory of God, for the people, and for the church committed to him, famous for holy virtues, he passed to the heavenly country on the Ides of September, and was buried in the church of the same holy Savinus his predecessor; whose sanctity moreover God illustrated also after his death with many miracles, and especially at the most recent translation of his sacred body, which was made to a worthier place in that same basilica by Fabritius, prelate of Piacenza, in the year of salvation one thousand four hundred and ninety-eight. Thus in the Office, on which I observe the following. Of the Gelasius here mentioned there was treatment among us at the 4th day of February; of Victor at the 6th of March, for this Victor is other than Victor the first bishop of Piacenza.
[6] In Ughelli, tom. 2, col. 197, in St. Maurus, a writing is recited a written monument in which some things are asserted about St. Maurus; which he believes ancient, but for whose authority I should not wish to contend. There these things are read of the deeds of St. Maurus: I Maurus, the last bishop from the kingdom of Lotherius, and on account of an angelic vision came to my own city, and buried the body of St. Sabinus the bishop on the 16th of the Kalends of February. This altar I consecrated in his honor and in that of St. Antoninus the martyr. On the day before the Nones of February I buried St. Gelasius; on the day before the Nones of March I buried the body of St. Victor the deacon; on the Ides of May I laid up the body of St. Dominus; on the 10th of the Kalends of January the most blessed Victoria departed from this world. After their death Maurus the bishop lived six years; on the Ides of September he departed. I, abbot Ephrem, buried his body beside the body of St. Sabinus, on the left side, and wrote with my own hand, and laid it up here. Ughelli observes that this writing was produced by Rufinus, a monk of the convent of St. Sabinus, in the year 1253, in a little book which has not yet seen the light.
[7] Campi on p. 127 praises that writing, and from it on p. 126 reports but which is suspected of forgery: that St. Maurus was admonished by an angelic vision to come to Piacenza and to bury the body of St. Sabinus, and to administer the bishopric of Piacenza in his place. He confesses, however, that he does not know what that kingdom of Lotherius is, and says that at that time this name had not yet been imposed on Lorraine, but that it was then called Austrasia. Hence he believes that some province unknown to us is designated by that name. But I answer that this whole writing is rendered suspect of forgery by those words, because it is not likely that by those words about the kingdom of Lotherius any other province is designated than the kingdom of Lothar, as the Lorraine of today — though much more widely extended — was called after the middle of the ninth century and in the following centuries. But neither the kingdom of Lotherius nor Austrasia either was the name of any kingdom or province at the beginning of the fifth century, or in the lifetime of St. Maurus. Hence probably that writing was composed long after the ninth century by an unskilled man, who speaks now in his own name, now in the name of St. Maurus, and finally in the name of abbot Ephrem, and deserves little credit. I judge that it should rather be attributed to Rufinus the monk than to some more ancient writer. He perhaps found some ancient inscription, which he could give enlarged with his own interpolations. Whatever it be, of St. Domninus, of whom mention is made in that writing, there was treatment at the 15th of May.
[8] Various things said without foundation in Campi's History concerning St. Maurus. Ughelli and Campi tie the burial of the saints mentioned to the year 443, namely because they fix the death of St. Maurus in the year 449, and believe that those men died six years before him. But that whole chronology is not only uncertain, but also little probable. Equally uncertain are all the other things which Campi reports concerning St. Maurus; for he seems to have been more anxious lest he should pass over anything than to call each point back to accurate criticism. I shall gather some things here in summary. He asserts on p. 125 that Maurus was of Piacenza by birth. He writes with little likelihood on p. 126 that there was a contention between the monks and the priests concerning the burial of the body of St. Sabinus, and that they were recalled to concord by Maurus. He affirms without suitable foundation on p. 127 that Sabinus the bishop was inscribed by Maurus in the canon of the saints, and that an altar was consecrated to him and a feast instituted; nor is what he has on p. 128 any more certain, concerning a Sermon composed in praise of St. Sabinus, and concerning a window built in the altar, so that access might somehow be had to the precious blood of St. Antoninus the martyr. No better founded are the things which Campi hands down on p. 130 concerning St. Victoria, sister of St. Sabinus, reckoned in the number of the saints, and then concerning others whose bodies he is read to have buried. I pass over the rest of Campi's assertions, which can be seen in his History itself; for I find nothing concerning St. Maurus which it is necessary to transfer hither.