RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Matthias Maurice
MAUNDY THURSDAY: The day before Easter, also called Holy Thursday. The word ' ' maundy " is derived from the Latin mandatum (commandment), referring to John xiii. 34, and the day commemorates the institution of the Lord's Supper and the washing of the disciples' feet. See Holy Week, § 4.
MAUR, mer (MAURUS), SAINT: A legendary dispiple of Benedict of Nursia, who first became famous through the Congregation of St. Maur (q.v.). He is said to have been born at Rome in 511 and died at Glanfeuil in Anjou, 584; also to have introduced the Benedictine rule into France and to have founded at Glanfeuil the first French monastery of his order. His extant biography is ascribed to Faustus, a monk of Monte Cassino and a contemporary of Maurus, but is in reality a forgery of the ninth century. Gregory of Tours does not mention Maur, and the details of his life are doubted not only by Protestants but also by Roman Catholic scholars. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: For the Vita, or other documents, consult ASB, Jan., i. 1039, 1051-60; ASM, ssec. I., pp. 274-298, IV., 2, pp. 165-183; MPL, xciv. 1594-97; and ed. O. Holder- Egger, MGH, Script, xv (1887), 462-472. Consult: <S. Maur et le sanctuaire de Glanfeuil en Anjou, Angers, 1869; A. Ebert, Allgemeine Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters, ii. 351, Leipsic, 1880; Zeumer, in NA, xi. 316; A. Molinier, Sources de I'hist, de France, i. 161-162, Paris, 1901.
MAURICE OF HESSE. See Verbesserungspunkte, Die Hessischen.
MAURICE (MAURITIUS), SAINT: The name of several early Christian martyrs, of whom the most celebrated is the commander (primicerius) of the famous Theban Legion (q.v.) which was put to death in a body under the Emperor Maximian for its confession of the Christian faith.
MAURICE OF SAXONY: Elector of Saxony; b. at Freiberg Mar. 21, 1521; d. at Sievershausen (16 m. e. of Hanover) July 11, 1553. He succeeded his father as duke of Saxony in 1541, and obtained the electoral dignity after the battle of Miihlberg, 1547. Though he had embraced the Reformation, and, together with his father, signed the Schmalkald Articles, he refused to ioin the League, probably because he considered the organization too weak, and his own position in it too subordinate, to form the basis for his ambitious schemes; and at the Diet of Regensburg (q.v.), where he and Duke Eric of Brunswick were the only Protestant princes present, he made a secret alliance with the Emperor Charles V. Accordingly, when the war broke out, he marched his troops into the territory of his cousin, the elector of Saxony, and conquered the country. But as soon as the elector, who stood in Upper Germany with a well-appointed army, heard of this treachery, he hastened back to Saxony, and not only reconquered his own land, but also expelled Maurice from his dukedom. The emperor came to his rescue; and at the Diet of Augsburg (Feb. 24, 1548) he was solemnly invested with a large portion 'of his cousin's territory and the electoral dignity. He rejected the Augsburg Interim; but the Leipsic Interim, which he substituted after conferring with Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, and others, proved as VII.— 17
hateful to his subjects. Realizing that the Reformation would not be kept apart from politics as a purely religious issue, he decided to place himself at the head of the movement, driven onward, no doubt, also by indignation at the emperor's faithlessness toward his father-in-law, Philip of Hesse, and by fear of the intrigues recently set on foot to supersede King Ferdinand, the emperor's brother, and fasten the succession on Don Philip, the emperor's son, but a Spaniard. Concealing his plans with great adroitness, he gathered a great army, formed an alliance with France, and suddenly fell upon the emperor at Innsbruck, and compelled him to fly for his life across the Alps. By the mediation of King Ferdinand, the Treaty of Passau was brought about (1552), and full religious liberty was granted to the Protestants. Maurice now completely regained the confidence of his coreligionists; but he had only a short time to avail himself of the great opportunities thereby offered him. In a feud with the margrave of Brandenburg he was severely wounded, and died a few days after. See Interim; and Augsburg, Religious Peace of.
Bibliography: F. A. von Langenn, Moritz, Herzog und Churfiirst zu Sachsen, 2 parts, Leipsic, 1841; E. Brandenburg, Moritz von Sachsen, Leipsic, 1898. Consult further: O. Winckelmann, Der schmalkaldischen Bund, 1680-32, Strasburg, 1892; J. Janssen, Hist, of the German People, vi. 308 sqq., St. Louis, 1903.
MAURICE, me'ris, JOHN FREDERICK DENI- SON: Church of England theologian, metaphysician, and educator; b. at Normanston near Lowestoft (20 m. s.w. of Norwich), Suffolk, Aug. 29, 1805; d. in London Apr. 1, 1872. He entered Cambridge in 1823, but left in 1827 without taking a degree because he was unable to subscribe; but went to Oxford in 1830, and was ordained to the ministry of the Church of England in 1834. He was chaplain of Guy's Hospital, 1836-46; became professor of English literature and history at King's College, London, 1840; was Boyle lecturer, 1846-47, and Warburton lecturer, 1846; became chaplain of Lincoln's Inn, 1846; assisted in the founding of Queen's College, 1848, and of the College for Working Men, London, 1854, of which latter he became principal; was appointed to St. Peter's, Vere Street, London, 1860; became Knightbridge professor of casuistry, moral theology, and moral philosophy at Cambridge, 1866, retaining charge of St. Peter's till 1869; was appointed to St. Edward's, Cambridge, 1870, and was Cambridge preacher at Whitehall, 1871-72. Maurice came of Unitarian parentage, and his early career was somewhat handicapped by the scruples and limitations involved. But under the influence of the writings of Coleridge he worked his way to an Evangelical position, though the changes in his personal attitude made him ever unwilling to attach himself to any party in the Church. The result was that throughout his life the independence of his thought, sometimes expressed polemically, as well as his dissent from the extremes of the two wings in the Church, brought upon him much of discomfort through the many attacks to which he was subjected. He had a natural aptitude for metaphysics, and in the development of his theology his popularity was often
Maurice
Maximus Confessor