Maurus of Poreč

Saint Maurus of Poreč is the patron of the city of Poreč, in Istria, in present-⁠day Croatia, called Parentium in Roman times. He is held, according to tradition, to have been the first bishop of Poreč and of Istria, and is remembered on 21 November.

One account says that Maurus was of noble Roman birth and became the first bishop of the city. The ninth-⁠century Martyrology of the Benedictine monk Rabanus Maurus contains the “Passion of Saint Maurus,” which describes him as a pilgrim from Africa caught up in Diocletian's persecution. His martyrdom is placed near the end of the third century.

The first basilica in Poreč, from the second half of the fourth century, was dedicated to him and held his relics. In 1354 the Genoese stole the relics and laid them in the church of San Matteo in Genoa. They were brought back to Poreč in 1934. In the present basilica, built in the sixth century (in 553), Maurus is shown in one of the apse mosaics holding the crown of martyrdom, third from the left. A votive chapel dedicated to him, next to the sacristy, holds his relics. He is also shown in an apse mosaic in the chapel of San Venanzio in the Lateran Baptistery, built by order of Pope John IV, a native of Dalmatia, to commemorate the saints of his homeland and of Istria.