St. Maurilius of Angers

St. Maurilius knew how to turn an opening toward Christ. A native of Milan and a disciple of St. Martin of Tours, he was ordained and became a vigorous missionary in Gaul. When lightning struck a pagan temple, Maurilius immediately began building a church in its place. He later became bishop of Angers and governed the see with virtue and prudence for thirty years.

Later writers surrounded this steady missionary bishop with dramatic stories about a neglected dying boy, exile in Britain, and a cathedral key recovered from a fish. This life identifies those tales as false additions. Maurilius needs no borrowed marvels. His firm witness is the life of a disciple, missionary, and bishop who recognized moments of grace and used them to draw a people toward Christ.