Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/93

 MAURICS

69

MAURISTS

of the Bagandae m Gaul. The soldiers were ordered to ransom 12,000 Roman soldiers taken prisoners by the

sacrifice to the gods in thanksgiving but refused. Avars, and they were all murdered. Further harass-

Every tenth was then killed. Another order to sacri- ing regulations made for the army with a view to more

fice and another refusal caused a second decimation economy caused a revolt that became a revolution In

and then a general massacre. (On the value of the 602 the soldiers drove away their officers, made a cer-

legend, etc., see Agaunuvi and Thcban legion.) St. tain centurion, Phocas, their leader and' marched on

Maurice is represented as a knight in full armour (sometimes as a Moor), bearing a standard and a palm; in Italian paintings with a red cross on his breast, which is the badge of the Sardinian Order of St. Maurice. Many places in Switzerland, Piedmont, France, and Germany have chosen him as celestial

Constantinople. Maurice, finding that he could not organize a resistance, fled across the Bosporus with his family. He was overtaken at Chalcedon and mur- dered with his five sons. Phocas then began his tyrannical reign (602-610).

In Church history Maurice has some importance

patron, as have also the dyers, clothmakers, soldiers, through his relations with Gregory I (590-604). As

he wrote to the emperor beg- ging him to annul the election. The fact has often been quoted as showing Gregory's accept- ance of an im]icrial right of veto. Later the pope's or- ganization of resistance against the Lombards was very displeasing to the em- peror, though the govern- ment at Constantinople did nothing to protect Italy. Further trouble was caused by the tyranny of the im- perial exarch at Ravenna, Romanus. Against this per- son the pope took the Italians under his protection. On the other hand the exarch and the emperor protected the bishops in the North of Italy who still kept up the schism that began with the Three Chapters quarrel (Pope Vigilius, 540-555). The as- sumption of the title of "oecumenical patriarch" by John IV of Constantinople (see John the Faster) caused more friction. All this explains St. Gregory's unfriendly feeling towards Maurice ; and it also helps to explain his rcatly and friendly recognition of Phocas which has been alleged by some to be a blot in the great pope's

swordsmiths, and others. He is invoked against gout, cramps, etc.

See Chevalier, Bio-Bibl.. a. v.; Histor. Jahrbuch, XIII, 782. Francis Mershman.

Maurice (Maukicius, Moupi/cios), Roman Emperor, b. in 539; d. in Nov., 602. He sprang from an old Roman (Latin) family set- tled in Cappadocia, and began his career as a soldier. Under the Emperor Tiberius II (578-582) he was made commander of a new legion levied from allied l)arbarians, with which he did good ser- vice against the Persians. When he returned trium- phant to Constantinople, Ti- berius gave him his daughter Constantina in marriage and appointed him his successor (578). Almost immediately afterwards (Theophylact, infra, says the next day) Tiberius died and Maurice succeeded peaceably. At his accession he found that through the reckless extrava- gance of his predecessor the exchequer was empty and the State bankrupt. In order to remedy this Maurice estab- lished the expenses of the court on a basis of strict economy. He gained a repu

The Convef Domenico Theotn

5ION OF St. Maukice !opuIi (El Greco), Eacorial, Madrid

tation for parsimony that made him very unpopular and career. But it is quite probable that the pope was

led eventually to his fall. The twenty years of his reign misinformed and not placed in full possession of all

do not in any way stand out conspicuously from early the circumstances attending the change of govern-

Byzantine history. The forces at work since Justin- ment in the distant East.

ian, or even Cons'tantiiie, continued the gradual decay Evagrids, Hist. Eccl.. VI; Theophylactos. Hisloria. ed

of the Empire under Maurice, as under Tiberius^his FaifrSlaL^SIb'**"

., Adamek, Beitnifjc zur Gescli. ties 1891); Gibbon, Decline and Fall, xlv, xlvi: ed. Buhv, V (London, 1898), 19-22. 57-63; Buuy, History of the Later Roman Empire, H (London, 1889). 8:i-94.

Adrian Fortescue.

Maurice and Lazarus, Knights ok. Sec Lazarus,

Knight.s of Saint.

Maurienne. See Saint-Jean db Maurienne. Maurists, The, a congregation of Benedictine monks in France, whose history extends from IfilS- 1818. It began as an offshoot from the famous re- formed Congregation of St-Vannes. TIk; reform had spread from Lorraine into France through the influ- sion of Italy by the Franks began the process that was ence of Dom Lauicnt lii'iiai-d, IVio?- of tlic College dc to end in the separation of all the West from the old Cluny in Paris, who inaugurated the reform in his own Empire and the establishment of the rival line of Em- college. Thence il spread to Sl-Aiigust in de Limoges, perors with Charles the Great (800). Maurice had to to Nouaillr, to St-1'aron dc Meaux, to Jumi^ges,and buy off the Avars with a heavy bribe that further re- to the Blancs-Mantcaux in Paris. In 1G18 a general duced his scanty resources and made economy still chapter of the Congregation of St-Vannes was held at more imperative. The emperor became more and St-Mansuet de Toul, whereat it was decided that an more impopular. In 599 he could not or would not independent congregation should be erected for the

predecessor and Phocas his successor. For the first ten years the long war with the Persians continued; then a revolution among the enemy brought a respite and the Roman Emperor was invoked by Chosroes II to restore him to his throne. Unfortunately Maurice was not clever enough to draw any profit for the Em- pire from this situation. The Avars and Slavs con- tinued their invasion of the northern provinces. The Slavs penetrated even to the Peloponnesus. The Lorribards ravaged Italy with impunity. As the Em- pire could do nothing to protect the Italians, they in- vited the Franks to their help (584). This first inva-