Saint Maura of Troyes

Her piety grew with age and nothing was capable of diminishing its fervor. She had boundless confidence in Saint Gervasius and Saint Protasius, and although the monastery built under their patronage was eight kilometers from the city, she nevertheless went there on pilgrimage every Wednesday and Friday, walking barefoot and fasting on bread and water. She also felt a tender devotion for Saint Mathie, and one could see her, after the morning office, embracing with all her might and flooding with her tears the altar where the body of the Saint rested.

Such an extraordinary grace of devotion could not be reconciled with attachment to the world and its vanities. Thus she hated it deeply, because of the countless sins of which it is the guilty theater. Unable to flee it absolutely, she lived in it as if not living in it, according to the counsel of Saint Paul; she despised what it esteems and esteemed what it despises.

Similar to the fire that burns and the flame that consumes, she set her loved ones ablaze with the sacred fire that devoured her, and by her prayers as much as by her exhortations, she contributed powerfully to the conversion of her elder brother and her father. Her brother Eutrope Elder brother of Maura, who became provost of the chapter of Troyes. , Eutrope, consecrated himself to God and became provost of the cathedral church chapter. He abandoned his goods to his sister, to procure for her in the world a more advantageous marriage. But his views were not those of Maure. This pious virgin thought only of heavenly things and wanted no other spouse than Jesus Christ, whose grace was dearer to her than all temporal riches.

Marien, her father, was a rich and powerful man; he followed the examples of the world and conformed to its dangerous maxims. Despite all his zeal and influence, Saint Prudence had not been able to make him leave the broad path that leads man to his ruin. Maure succeeded, and she begat for Jesus Christ him who had begotten her for the earth. She stirred him to a lively contrition for his faults, and led him to the feet of the Pontiff, who confessed him and restored him to grace with God. He became so pious that he seemed to be entirely in the Lord. He left the cathedral church as heir to his goods, and wished to be buried there; he died some time before his holy daughter.

The time that Maura did not spend in prayer, she employed in manual labor, the proceeds of which she dedicated to the churches and the poor: all her income had the same destination. It was she who kept the sanctuary lamp supplied with oil and provided the wax for the divine offices, she who embroidered the ornaments and albs, who gave away the surpluses and priestly garments. Saint Prudentius reports the m Saint Prudence Bishop of Troyes and biographer of Saint Maura. iraculous virtue attached to the works of Saint Maura, and of which he himself had experienced the effects in the celebration of the august mysteries. "I value more than gold and precious stones," he says with truly admirable humility and moving simplicity, "a linen alb that she gave me, after having spun, made, and bleached it with her own hands, and which she begged me to use when I offered the holy sacrifice... I was like a barren fig tree, all ready to be thrown into the fire; I was like dry straw that one is about to put into the oven to consume; my soul, like a land without water, bore no fruit. But let us speak more clearly, and why delay any longer in revealing my misery? I rarely consecrated the sacrament of the Body of Our Lord with a piety worthy of such a great mystery; I ate the Bread of Angels without the bread of tears, when she gave me this garment. What more shall I say?... I will no longer hide, Lord, the effects of your mercy, I will recount the wonders that you have done through Maura, your servant. This garment had the same power over my heart as Aaron's rod once had over the rock of the desert; for, although I was harder than stone, it nevertheless made torrents of tears flow from my eyes. And how many times have not several of us felt its virtue and efficacy when we put it on to celebrate?

The generosity of the Saint was not limited to the church of Saint-Pierre or to Saint Prudentius; it extended equally to the religious of Mantenay. Maura provided abundantly for their needs; she gave them clothes and linen both for their church a nd for the needs of t religieux de Mantenay Monastery located near Troyes. he community.

The virtues of Saint Maura earned her the esteem, respect, and veneration of her fellow citizens and particularly of Saint Prudentius, her bishop. God performed a multitude of miracles through her: the mere touch of the linens she had given healed the sick. She had presented one of these objects to Abbot Leo or Lyé II, superior of Mantenay. Two religious of this abbey, named Melain and Paulin, tormented by a pernicious fever, had no sooner touched the linen than they were healed, which they solemnly attested. A canon by the name of Maurice had a film over his eyes that put him in danger of losing his sight; he was inspired by God to wash himself with the tears that Maura shed in abundance on the tomb of Saint Mathia. His confidence was not in vain: he was immediately healed. These miracles were so public that Saint Prudentius did not fear to recall them in his discourse on the life of Saint Maura.

Let us not forget another very wonderful fact. A deacon of the church of Troyes, bearing the same name as the canon of whom we have just spoken, had a voice so weak that one could barely hear him at the end of the church when he sang the Gospel. One day (it was Good Friday), Saint Prudentius was preaching in the church of Saint-Aventin, located near the city walls, and Maura was part of the audience. Suddenly she rises and traces the sign of the cross upon herself. Saint Prudentius, interrupting himself then, asked her why, when all the listeners were seated, she alone remained standing. Maura replied modestly: "Must one be seated, my Father, when the holy Gospel is read? The deacon Maurice is beginning the reading of the Passion of Our Lord, in the church of the Apostles; if it pleases the assembly, one can stop for a while to hear it."

Saint Prudentius then asked those who were present if they heard anything; but no sound, no murmur reached their ears. Persuaded that there was some wonder there, the bishop went with all the people to the church of the Apostles to ascertain the truth: "We stopped for a short time at the door," says Saint Prudentius, "and it is with difficulty that we could distinguish the voice of Maurice who was indeed reading the Passion of the Savior. The Gospel finished, we praised the holy name of God, and we published in his temple the glory that he makes appear in his Saints. As for Maura, she was prostrate at my feet, and when everyone was in joy, she struck her breast and accused herself with sorrow for having interrupted the word of God."

Maure had reached her twenty-third year, and the day had come when she was to be united with her divine Spouse. The Church was celebrating the feast of Saint Matthew, and Maure, who had been ill for some time, was on the point of rendering her soul to her Creator. While Sedulia, her mother, lamented and wept bitterly over the loss she was about to suffer, Maure rejoiced to leave the world, to be delivered from its temptations and miseries, and to go at last to enjoy in the abode of the blessed the rewards for which she sighed so ardently.

Saint Prudence wished to assist her himself in her final moments. He was at the foot of her deathbed, and Abbot Leon was reciting the psalms of David softly and with devotion. Eutropius, Maure's brother, the deacon Maurice, and a great number of the faithful had come to be edified by the moving spectacle of such a Christian end. But let us let Saint Prudence tell us himself what is so capable of touching all hearts: "We were all in the deepest silence," he says, "when suddenly a heavenly voice was heard, and these words were perfectly distinguished: 'Come, my beloved, I will establish my throne in you, because the King has conceived an ardent love for your beauty.' Our ears as well as our hearts were filled with an inexpressible sweetness and charm. We looked with great care to see if there was anyone inside or outside who was the author of such a pleasant harmony; but we recognized with certainty, by the fragrance and sweetness that accompanied it, that the Lord, 'who had ascended into heaven amidst acclamations,' had then descended amidst canticles of rejoicing, and that, like a bridegroom coming out of his nuptial bed, he did not disdain to anticipate her who came to meet him and who had long been betrothed to him; he sang canticles of joy to meet her in order to lead her then into another life, to unite himself to her by indissoluble bonds, and to consecrate her to his glory for all eternity. Then, we saw her lift her head with great difficulty and incline it to four different sides as if to greet someone. Abbot Leon having asked her why she was acting thus, she replied to him: 'Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Saint Gervase and Saint Protase, whom I have honored to the best of my ability during my life, are at the four sides of my bed, from where they are driving away cruel beasts.' She then turned toward me and said: 'The last favor I ask of you, my Father and my Bishop, is that you give me, in the presence of all those present, the sacraments of the Eucharist and Extreme Unction.' I gave them to her immediately, and she died in peace while pronouncing these words of the Lord's Prayer: 'Thy kingdom come!' It was September 21, 850.

Her death was accompanied by a great number of miracles. Thecia, a relative of Maure, had been born with a blemish on her face, which made her unpleasant in the eyes of her husband; she touched Maure's hair shirt and the blemish disappeared. The monk Veranus recovered the sense of smell that he had lost long ago, and he smelled the fragrant odor that embalmed all those who surrounded the body of the Saint.

SAINT FRANCAIRE OR FRAGAIRE, CONFESSOR. Saint Maure is depicted in the cathedral of Troyes with her name written in gold letters; she is set against a worked blue background. Her cloak is violet, her dress pink; she holds a palm and an open book; her blonde hair hangs in long braids over her shoulders, and the halo is green. She is also painted working on making ecclesiastical vestments in her cell. CULT AND RELICS. Saint Maure was buried with honor in the church of the village that bears he r name, four kilometers from Troyes église du village qui porte son nom Burial place of the saint. , and one can still see today, in a side chapel, the stone tomb raised on four pillars, where her body rested for a long time. In 1415, the parish of Sainte-Maure shared the relics of its patron saint with the abbey of Saint-Martin-ès-Aires, which, a century later, in 1549, transferred them into a precious reliquary, given by the prior Villain. In 1655, the remains kept at the Sainte-Maure church were visited by Mgr François Malier du Houssay and found in good condition; the same was true when, in 1789, Mgr Louis-Mathias-Joseph II de Barral, Bishop of Isaure, coadjutor of Troyes, proceeded with a new visit. Finally, on May 16, 1828, Mgr Jacques-Louis-David de Séguin des Hous delegated Mr. Lejeune and Mr. Roisard, who had the reliquary opened and found the precious relics there with the seals and inscriptions on ancient parchments. The current reliquary, containing, among other bones, the femur, is exposed to the veneration of the faithful during the octave of the feast of Saint Maure. The rest of the year, it is raised between the ogives of the sanctuary arch and supported by two gilded wooden angels of gigantic size. It is the work of a man from Troyes, Boulland, architect of Notre-Dame de Paris, who provided the design in 1776 Boulland Architect from Troyes who designed the reliquary. . Saint Maure is the patron saint of washerwomen; her feast is celebrated every year on September 21, amidst an immense gathering of people, in the parish church that chose this Saint as its patron. Taken from the Life of the Saints of Troyes, by Abbé Defer.