MAXIMILIAN, SS.

The names of two martyrs of the early Church. Maximilian (or Mamilian ), martyr; b. 274; d. 295. The passio of this Maximilian is an authentic, unembroidered, and contemporary account. At Theveste in Numidia (modern Tebessa, Algeria), or near Carthage, during the consulship of Tuscus and Anulinus, Maximilian, the son of Victor, was brought before the proconsul Dion by the public prosecutor Pompeian and presented as suitable for military service. Maximilian refused to serve or to accept the leaden seal of the emperor; he declared himself a Christian and a soldier in the army of Christ, whom alone he served. For his refusal he was beheaded, as the passio states, at the age of 21 years, 3 months, and 18 days. His father was present as he greeted death with joy. The matron Pompeiana carried his body on a litter to Carthage and buried it close to that of St. cyprian.

Feast: March 12.

Maximilian of Lorch, bishop, martyr; b. Cilli, Styria;d. there, c. 284. He was an apostle of Noricum, between Styria and Bavaria, where he was martyred; the particulars of his life are based on unreliable 13th-century acta. Born of a wealthy family of Cilli (modern Steiermark), Maximilian was given at age seven to a priest to be educated. As he grew older, he gave away his inheritance and traveled to Rome. sixtus ii sent him to Noricum as a missionary; he established an episcopal see at Lorch, near Passau. Then he labored fruitfully for more than 20 years, surviving the persecutions of Valerian and Aurelian. Under Numerian, however, the prefect of Noricum started a persecution during which Maximilian was called upon to sacrifice to the gods. He refused and was beheaded outside the walls of Cilli.

Feast: Oct. 12; with St. Valentine on Oct. 29.

Bibliography: Maximilian, a. butler, The Lives of the Saints 1:571–573. Acta sanctorum March 2: 103. h. delehaye, Les Passions des martyrs…. (Brussels 1921) 104–110. Gli Acta s. Maximiliani martyris, tr. e. di lorenzo (Naples 1975). p. allard, Histoire des persécutions, 5 v. (3d ed. Paris 1903–09), v. 4. p. brock, The Riddle of St. Maximilian of Tebessa (Toronto 2000). p. siniscalco, Massimiliano, un obiettore di coscienza del tardo Impero (Turin 1974). Maximilian of Lorch. Acta sanctorum Oct. 6:23–58. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints (New York 1956) 4:93. g. ratzinger, Forschungen zur bayrischen Geschichte (Kempten 1898). j. zeiller, Les Origines chrétiennes dans les provinces danubiennes (Paris 1918).

[e. d. carter]