St. Maurice of Carnoet

Feastday: October 13
Birth: 1117
Death: 1191

As a monk of the Cistercian monastery of Langonnet, France, Maurice Duault, of Croixanvec, France, exhibited great humility, simplicity, and prudence. He was soon chosen to become Langonnet's abbot. Thereafter he was sent to found a monastery in the forest of Carnoet. The surrounding woods were menaced by aggressive wolves. Upon being asked by his fellow monks to pronounce an excommunication against all the wolves, Maurice reminded them that wolves and "all beasts created by God" should exist, for "God saw all things which he had made, and they were very good." But he added, "May Jesus Christ, and his holy Mother, whom I serve, drive out those wolves who rage violently in the slaughter of men." Shortly afterward, two large wolves were discovered lying dead near the monastery, evidently felled by the abbot's appeal to Jesus and Mary (for the animals showed no signs of injury that would explain their deaths). Among the many miracles attributed to the intercession of Saint Maurice following his death, a boy who had drowned was raised to life when his body was brought to the abbot's tomb.

Maurice of Carnoet was a Cistercian abbot. Born in Brittany, Maurice went on to study at the University of Paris. When he completed his studies he entered the Langonette Monastery in 1144. In 1176 he was elected abbot of Langonette Monastery. Later Duke Conan IV of Brittany build the Carnoet Abbey, for Maurice. In 1176 he became the monastery's first abbot.