Saint Maurilio of Rouen

statue of Saint Maurille, Archbishop of Rouen, date and artist unknown; 5th statue on the right of the gallery of the western facade of the cathedral of Rouen, France; photographed on 6 December 2014 by Giogo; swiped from Wikimedia CommonsAlso known as

  • Maurilius
  • Maurille

Memorial

Profile

Born to the Gallic nobility. Studied theology in Liege, Belgium and in Saxony in modern Germany; member of the cathedral chapter of Halberstadt. By 1030 he was a monk at Fécamp, France. After some years, he withdrew from communal life to live as a hermit in Vallombrosa, Italy. Maurilio’s wisdom and holiness led the Marquis Bonifacio to order him to become the abbot the San Maria abbey in Florence, Italy. The monks there objected so strongly to his reform attempts that they tried to poison Maurilio; he returned to Fécamp. In 1055 he was appointed the archbishop of Rouen by Duke William the Conqueror of Normandy. He worked to restore discipline to his priests, presided over councils, helped impose a truce between warring families and feudal houses, and united them to fight against highway robbers and brigands. Helped Saint Anselm of Canterbury come to see that he had a call to religious life. Maurilio built several churches, consecrated the cathedral of Rouen in 1063, and the abbey church of Jumièges on 1 July 1067.

Born

Died

  • 9 August 1067 of natural causes
  • legend says that when they were preparing to take the body to the local church for his funeral Mass, Maurilio suddenly sat up and described what he had seen in the afterlife including places near Jerusalem with crowds of saints, others with crowds of demons, and the damned suffering in Hell; he gave his clergy a warning to guard their souls, then laid down for the final time
  • buried in the Rouen cathedral
  • tomb destoyed by Huguenots in 1562
Additional Information

MLA Citation

  • “Saint Maurilio of Rouen“. CatholicSaints.Info. 26 January 2022. Web. 19 April 2024. <>