Maurelius of Voghenza

Maurelius of Voghenza was a Syrian priest from Edessa, later bishop of Voghenza near Ferrara in Italy, who died on 7 May 644. He is venerated as a saint in the Western Church and is patron of the city of Ferrara.

Little is certain. A Latin legend of 1489 says he was a son of Theobald, the pagan king of Mesopotamia, and that he later received the rule of Edessa but gave it to his brother Hippolytus in order to live the faith more fully. He was ordained priest by Theophilus, bishop of Smyrna, and sent to Rome to Pope John IV in a matter concerning the heretic Severinus. Of his election the legend says that the pope had a vision of Saint George, who commanded him to choose Maurelius as bishop of Voghenza, whose bishop Oldradus had died. At his first Liturgy in Voghenza a hand is said to have appeared blessing him, and he cured a blind girl.

The legend further says that, when news came that his brother Rivallus had renounced Christianity and killed Hippolytus, Maurelius returned to Edessa, where Rivallus arrested, tortured and killed him. Other sources, considered more historical, see his death as an episode in the struggle between the Exarchate of Ravenna and the papacy over the Byzantine lands: Maurelius is said to have taken the papal side.

In 1106 Emperor Henry V had a vision of the saint and moved his relics to the church of San Giorgio in Ferrara. Since 1463 he has been the patron of Ferrara. His relics now rest in the Basilica of San Giorgio fuori le mura. His feast is 7 May, according to the Western calendar (new style).