ON ST. MAXIMUS SOLDIER AND MARTYR OF THE THEBAN LEGION, AT MILAN.
ABOUT THE YEAR 297.
CommentaryMaximus, soldier and Martyr, of the Theban Legion, at Milan (St.)
BY G. H.
When the Theban Legion, under its leader St. Maurice, in the territory of the Seduni, because it refused, at the command of the Emperor Maximian, to sacrifice to the gods, had departed from the rest, many of them crossed the Alps, and lay hidden for some time in subalpine Italy: Theban Martyrs having escaped by flight into Italy, and crowned: but when others were killed on September 22, their companions were sought out in Italy, and crowned with Martyrdom in various places. Thus at Turin in Piedmont SS. Octavius, Solutor and Adventor suffered, whose bodies are now preserved there in the church of the Society of Jesus, dedicated to the said Saints, Patrons of the city of Turin. We have touched on some things about them on February 13, in the Life of St. Juliana the Matron, to be treated more fully on November 20, on which they are believed to have been killed. Another distinguished soldier from this legion was St. Alexander, who at Bergamo, after various tortures, beheaded, completed his Martyrdom on August 26. Bernardino Rossignoli of the Society of Jesus, under the name of Guglielmo Baldesano, accurately described the Theban History, more fully published at Turin in the year 1604; in which he writes on page 131 that the aforementioned St. Alexander, standard-bearer of the legion, among these, among the companions of St. Alexander, was St. Maximus. with some of his companions, Cassius, Secundus, Severinus, Licinius, Maximus, Innocentius and Maurice, crossed over into Italy, preserved then to this by the wonderful providence of God, that with their blood they might sanctify various cities and dioceses there. Afterwards on page 143 he treats of the three last mentioned; whose body was deposited at Milan, and asserts that the body of St. Innocentius is preserved in the town of Cantù, and that of St. Maurice in the town of Serra in the diocese of Milan: but that of St. Maximus, of whom we here treat, in the city of Milan itself: and he adds that he was unable to obtain any particular information about the martyrdom of these athletes.
[2] Finally on page 267 concerning the elevation of the body of St. Maximus he has this: "The body of St. Maximus the Theban was at Milan, by St. Charles Borromeo but without due reverence, in a place not sufficiently decently arranged. Wherefore St. Charles Borromeo, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and Archbishop of Milan, in order to stir up devotion of the people in his Metropolitan Church, made in the underground crypt a notable Chapel; and he rendered it more sacred, having placed in it the relics of various Saints: in the year 1578 transferred into the underground crypt: and in the year of our salvation 1578, among other bodies of Saints, he translated the sacred body of St. Maximus the Theban soldier thither; and with great honor and reverence deposited it in the underground vault, constructed for this. But so that the devotion of the people of Milan toward this Theban Saint might be increased, he separated from the rest of the body the venerable head of the said Martyr, but the head enclosed in silver, and brought it out of the crypt, and wished it to be preserved in a silver case, so that in future times the memory of this Saint might persist." Thus Rossignoli. But Paolo Morigia, in the Sanctuary of the City and Diocese of Milan, published in 1641, reports that in the Cathedral church, near the altar of St. Michael, within the sacristy of the Ordinary Saints, with the greatest veneration there are preserved the Relics of fourteen Saints, is kept in the sacristy. among which he names the Head of St. Maximus the Martyr, and on page 7 among other Relics of Martyrs, which are kept in the same sacristy, he places in the first place some of St. Maximus. Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, is venerated on April 14. and in the General Catalogue, treats of this St. Maximus, and asserts that the day is that of the Discovery, not of the Passion: the rest he takes from the cited History of the Thebans. Brautius Bishop of Sarsina celebrates him with this distich in his Poetic Martyrology:
Maximus is snatched away when the Theban Legion is cut down, That he might be able the more to glorify Christ.