Blessed Maurice Csaky,
Feast day: March 20
Also known as Blessed Maurice of Hungary
Died 1336.
Maurice, Prince of Hungary, was persecuted by his father-in-law for his desire to remain in the Dominican Order. He was born into the royal house of Hungary. There had been many heavenly signs before his birth that he was to be an unusual favorite of God, but for the first few years of his life he was so sickly that no one believed he would survive. By the time he was five, he was a delicate, dreamy child who played at saying Mass and leading family prayers. The little chapel in his father's castle was his favorite haunt, and he was always to be found there between sessions in the schoolroom.
When he was still quite small, an old Dominican came one day to visit his parents, and took a great fancy to the handsome little boy. He told the child the story of Saint Alexis, which greatly impressed him. When Maurice knelt to ask the old priest's blessing, the Dominican said prophetically, "This child will one day enter our holy Order and will be one of its joys."
In spite of the several indications that God had designs on Maurice, circumstances conspired against him. His parents died when he was still quite young, leaving him immensely wealthy and solely in charge of his father's estates. A brother, who had entered the Dominican novitiate, died very young. Relatives prevailed upon Maurice to marry. Against all his wishes, he did so.
However, he and his young wife, the daughter of the Count of Palatine, made a vow of continence, and both resolved to became Dominicans as soon as it was possible to dispose of the estates. When his wife fled to the Isle of Margaret in the Danube, and took the veil in Saint Margaret's convent, her father was furious. He went in search of the young husband and found that he, too, had gone to the Dominicans. He settled the matter in the forthright fashion of the times by kidnapping Maurice and locking him in a tower. Here, like another Thomas Aquinas, the young novice settled down to wait until someone tired of the arrangement.
After three months of unfruitful punishment, Maurice was released as incorrigible, and his relatives devoted their attention to getting hold of his estates instead. He went happily off to Bologna to complete his studies, where he remained for three years.
For 32 years, Maurice ignored the throne and the luxuries of the world to live in obscurity and poverty. The picture of him left us by the chroniclers is an engaging one: an earnest, pious priest who made no effort to capitalize on his birth or social graces; a zealous addict of poverty, who managed, by a series of sagacious trades, to have the oldest habit in the house and the dreariest cell. He is said to have said the whole Psalter daily, plus the Penitential Psalms, and the Litany of the Saints.
A number of curious stories are told about him. Once, when he was staying with a Benedictine friend, the friend noticed that he went in and out of locked doors with no trouble at all, and that the rooms lighted up by themselves when he entered. Maurice is supposed to have had the gift of prophecy. A relative of his had cheated the sisters out of some property that Maurice had left them. Maurice told him that the goods would be taken away from him, and that another man, more generous, would give it back to the sisters. The man died shortly thereafter, and the prophecy was fulfilled.
After Maurice's death at least two miracles of healing were reported at his grave: one was a cure from fever, another from blindness. Butler's Lives of the Saints lists him as "Blessed Maurice" and he is still venerated in Hungary, although his cultus has never been formally approved
Feast day: March 20
Also known as Blessed Maurice of Hungary
Died 1336.
Maurice, Prince of Hungary, was persecuted by his father-in-law for his desire to remain in the Dominican Order. He was born into the royal house of Hungary. There had been many heavenly signs before his birth that he was to be an unusual favorite of God, but for the first few years of his life he was so sickly that no one believed he would survive. By the time he was five, he was a delicate, dreamy child who played at saying Mass and leading family prayers. The little chapel in his father's castle was his favorite haunt, and he was always to be found there between sessions in the schoolroom.
When he was still quite small, an old Dominican came one day to visit his parents, and took a great fancy to the handsome little boy. He told the child the story of Saint Alexis, which greatly impressed him. When Maurice knelt to ask the old priest's blessing, the Dominican said prophetically, "This child will one day enter our holy Order and will be one of its joys."
In spite of the several indications that God had designs on Maurice, circumstances conspired against him. His parents died when he was still quite young, leaving him immensely wealthy and solely in charge of his father's estates. A brother, who had entered the Dominican novitiate, died very young. Relatives prevailed upon Maurice to marry. Against all his wishes, he did so.
However, he and his young wife, the daughter of the Count of Palatine, made a vow of continence, and both resolved to became Dominicans as soon as it was possible to dispose of the estates. When his wife fled to the Isle of Margaret in the Danube, and took the veil in Saint Margaret's convent, her father was furious. He went in search of the young husband and found that he, too, had gone to the Dominicans. He settled the matter in the forthright fashion of the times by kidnapping Maurice and locking him in a tower. Here, like another Thomas Aquinas, the young novice settled down to wait until someone tired of the arrangement.
After three months of unfruitful punishment, Maurice was released as incorrigible, and his relatives devoted their attention to getting hold of his estates instead. He went happily off to Bologna to complete his studies, where he remained for three years.
For 32 years, Maurice ignored the throne and the luxuries of the world to live in obscurity and poverty. The picture of him left us by the chroniclers is an engaging one: an earnest, pious priest who made no effort to capitalize on his birth or social graces; a zealous addict of poverty, who managed, by a series of sagacious trades, to have the oldest habit in the house and the dreariest cell. He is said to have said the whole Psalter daily, plus the Penitential Psalms, and the Litany of the Saints.
A number of curious stories are told about him. Once, when he was staying with a Benedictine friend, the friend noticed that he went in and out of locked doors with no trouble at all, and that the rooms lighted up by themselves when he entered. Maurice is supposed to have had the gift of prophecy. A relative of his had cheated the sisters out of some property that Maurice had left them. Maurice told him that the goods would be taken away from him, and that another man, more generous, would give it back to the sisters. The man died shortly thereafter, and the prophecy was fulfilled.
After Maurice's death at least two miracles of healing were reported at his grave: one was a cure from fever, another from blindness. Butler's Lives of the Saints lists him as "Blessed Maurice" and he is still venerated in Hungary, although his cultus has never been formally approved
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