THIS princess was daughter of Theodoric, a powerful Saxon count. Her
parents, being sensible that piety is the only true greatness, placed
her very young in the monastery of Erford, of which her grandmother
Maud, who had renounced the world in her widowhood, was then abbess.
Here our saint acquired an extraordinary relish for prayer and spiritual
reading; and learned to work at her needle, and to employ all the
precious moments of life in something serious and worthy the great end
of her creation. She remained in that house an accomplished model of all
virtues, till her parents married her to Henry, son of Otho, duke of
Saxony, in 913. Her husband, surnamed the Fowler, from his fondness for
the diversion of hawking, then much in vogue, became duke of Saxony by
the death of his father, in 916; and in 919, upon the death of Conrad,
was chosen king of Germany. He was a pious and victorious prince, and
very tender of his subjects. His solicitude in easing their taxes, made
them ready to serve their country in his wars at their own charges,
though he generously recompensed their zeal after his expeditions, which
were always attended with success. While he by his arms checked the
insolence of the Hungarians and Danes, and enlarged his dominions by
adding to them Bavaria, Maud gained domestic victories over her
spiritual enemies, more worthy of a Christian, and far greater in the
eyes of heaven. She nourished the precious seeds of devotion and
humility in her heart by assiduous prayer and meditation; and, not
content with the time which the day afforded for these exercises,
employed part of the night the same way. The nearer the view was which
she took of worldly vanities, the more clearly she discovered their
emptiness and dangers, and sighed to see men pursue such bubbles to the
loss of their souls; for, under a fair outside, they contain nothing but
poison and bitterness.
It was her delight to visit, comfort, and exhort the sick and the
afflicted, to serve and instruct the poor, teaching them the advantages
of their state from the benedictions and example of Christ; and to
afford her charitable succors to prisoners, procuring them their liberty
where motives of justice would permit it; or at least easing the weight
of their chains by liberal alms; but her chief aim was to make them
shake off their sins by sincere repentance. Her husband, edified by her
example, concurred with her in every pious undertaking which she
projected. After twenty-three years' marriage, God was pleased to call
the king to himself by an apoplectic fit, in 936. Maud, during his
sickness, went to the church to pour forth her soul in prayer for him at
the foot of the altar. As soon as she understood, by the tears and cries
of the people, that he had expired, she called for a priest that was
fasting, to offer the holy sacrifice for his soul; and at the same time
cut off the jewels which she wore, and gave them to the priest, as a
pledge that she renounced from that moment the pomp of the world. She
had three sons; Otho, afterwards emperor; Henry, duke of Bavaria, and
St. Bruno, archbishop of Cologne. Otho was crowned king of Germany in
937, {590} and emperor at Rome in 962, after his victories over the
Bohemians and Lombards. Maud, in the contest between her two elder sons
for the crown, which was elective, favored Henry, who was the younger, a
fault she expiated by severe afflictions and penance. These two sons
conspired to strip her of her dowry, on the unjust pretence that she had
squandered away the revenues of the state on the poor. This persecution
was long and cruel, coming from all that was most dear to her in this
world. The unnatural princes at length repented of their injustice, were
reconciled to her, and restored her all that had been taken from her.
She then became more liberal in her alms than ever, and founded many
churches, with five monasteries; of which the principal were that of
Polden in the duchy of Brunswick, in which she maintained three thousand
monks; and that of Quedlinbourg in the duchy of Saxony.[1] She buried
her husband in this place, and when she had finished the buildings, made
it her usual retreat. She applied herself totally to her devotions, and
to works of mercy. It was her greatest pleasure to teach the poor and
ignorant how to pray, as she had formerly taught her servants. In her
last sickness she made her confession to her grandson William, the
archbishop of Mentz, who yet died twelve days before her, on his road
home. She again made a public confession before the priests and monks of
the place, received a second time the last sacraments, and lying on a
sackcloth with ashes on her head, died on the 14th of March, in 968. Her
body remains at Quedlinbourg. Her name is recorded to the Roman
Martyrology on this day.
* * * * *
The beginning of true virtue is most ardently to desire it, and to ask
it of God with the utmost assiduity and earnestness,[2] preferring it
with all the saints to kingdoms and thrones, and considering riches as
nothing in comparison of this our only and inestimable treasure. Fervent
prayer, holy meditation, and reading pious books, are the principal
means by which it is to be constantly improved, and the interior life of
the soul to be strength ened. These are so much the more necessary in
the world than in a religious state, as its poison and distractions
threaten her continually with the greatest danger. Amidst the pomp,
hurry, and amusements of a court, St. Maud gave herself up to holy
contemplation with such earnestness, that though she was never wanting
to any exterior or social duties, her soul was raised above all
perishable goods, dwelt always in heaven, and sighed after that happy
moment which was to break the bonds of her slavery, and unite her to God
in eternal bliss and perfect love. Is it possible that so many
Christians, capable of finding in God their sovereign felicity, should
amuse themselves with pleasures which flatter the senses, with reading
profane books, and seeking an empty satisfaction in idle visits, vain
conversation, news, and sloth, in which they pass those precious hours
which they might employ in exercises of devotion, and in the duties and
serious employments of their station! What trifles do they suffer to
fill their minds and hearts, and to rob them of the greatest of all
treasures! Conversation and visits in the world must only be allowed as
far as they are social duties, must be regulated by charity and
necessity, sanctified by simplicity, prudence, and every virtue,
animated by the spirit of God, and seasoned with a holy unction which
divine grace gives to those whom it perfectly replenishes and possesses.
Footnotes:
1. The abbess of this latter is the first princess of the empire.
2. Sap. vii. 6.
{591}