Saint Mauro...
[Nl. Maurus, populair in 17e eeuw, o.a. in Holsbeek!]
is the name by which Saint Amaro is also known and celebrated.
He was the first disciple of Saint Benedict of Nursia [6th centruy]...
and is mentioned in the biography of Saint Gregory the Great.
San Mauro was born in the city of Rome...
the only son of the senator Eutychius and of Julia, a rich noblewoman, in the year 512.
At the age of twelve, he had a dream, in which a voice told him to give his life to the service of Christ, and thus he would be led to the path of holiness. He interpreted it as a call from God and communicated to his parents his desire to enter a monastery.
Eutychius was a friend of the abbot Benedict of Nursia...
revered by the Church as the 'father of western monks', and knew his work with young people who wanted to study and deepen in the faith, so he decided that his son would go there.
Amaro was entrusted to Saint Benedict, along with his seven-year-old cousin Placido, who was also canonized. The boys entered the monastery of Subiaco, where they studied and deepened their faith in God.
One day, the holy abbot was praying...
and Amaro was performing his daily tasks...
when Saint Benedict had a vision of the boy Placido drowning in the stream where he had gone to fetch water. Immediately, Saint Benedict called Amaro and warned him that his cousin was drowning, ordered him to run there and try to save Placido, anyway.
Amaro concentrated in such a way and acted so quickly, he didn't even realize he was walking on the waters of that stream, then he pulled his cousin by the hair and took him to the mainland.
Thus, Amaro's first prodigy happened, who saved his cousin, walking on water, as Saint Peter did to answer the call of Master Jesus, walking on the Sea of Galilee.
Amaro became the favorite disciple of Saint Benedict...
and accompanied him to the monastery of Montecassino, when they settled there, being named the first superior and administrator. About Amaro, the records show that he was a virtuous man, a model of obedience, humility and charity.
In 535...
when Saint Benedict received the invitation to open a monastery under his Rules in Gaul, present-day France, the one chosen for the mission was Amaro, who headed it with four other monks, including Fausto, who wrote the 'Life of Amaro, Abbot'.
The work was so fruitful that the French monastery gave rise to a city [vlakbij Spanje] named after him.
Many years later...
it was also given to the French Benedictine Congregation of Saint Maur [bij de Loire], one of the most important Catholic institutions for the training of its monks, which expanded throughout Europe.
The monk Fausto, in his book, narrated that Amaro, at the age of seventy-two, contracted the plague, an epidemic that had settled in the monastery, leading to the death of a hundred religious. He agonized for five months, dying a holy death on January 15, 584.
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He was buried in the church of Saint Martin...
the same one where he used to go to pray.
Currently his relics are in the Crypt of the Chapel of the monastery of Montecassino, Italy. The Church canonized him and the feast of Saint Amaro takes place on the day of his death.
From 1962, his cousin began to be celebrated together with him. The cult of Saint Amaro is very vigorous all over the world, especially in Europe and France.
[bron]
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