ST MAURUS, BISHOP OF CESENA - 20 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 20th of January

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST MAURUS, BISHOP OF CESENA 

Saint Maurus, Bishop of Cesena, is patron saint of this ancient city of Umbria called Caesena by the Latins, and Κισσήνη by the Greeks, which is located on the Aemilian road. 

HE WAS FAMOUS FOR HIS MIRACLES AND VIRTUES

He ascended the episcopal chair in 934 and died on November 21, 946, famous for his miracles and virtues.

HIS "VITA"

His life story, which St Petrus Damiani wrote is, according to the Bollandists, more of a eulogy than an objective "Vita". Apart from the general praise customary at any graveside, we only found in it this fact that St Maurus often went into solitude on a mountain near Cesena in order to be isolated from the world and to converse with God.

PRAYER IN SOLITUDE

The other fact related is that his mortal remains stayed in the church he had built there until they were transferred to Cesena (January 20, 1411). His tomb (dated 1340) contains the following inscription:

Hic manet Antistes tumulatus marmore sanctus

Fulgidus in signis mirandus nomine Maurus.

The holy bishop rests here in the marble tomb

Maurus, famous all around with a name that shines with wonder.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)