ON S. MAMILIANUS, OR MAXIMILIANUS, MARTYR AT ROME.
CommentaryMamilianus, or Maximilianus, Martyr at Rome (S.)
[1] The memory of this Martyr, with no place of passion added, is found in the manuscript Martyrologies of the Churches of Prague and Brussels: "And of S. Maximilianus the Martyr." Ado and the printed Bede have: "The Passion of S. Maximilianus the Martyr." Nearly the same things are found in the manuscript Martyrology of S. Maximinus, and in the one printed at Cologne and Lübeck in the year 1490. Notker adds: "and of many others." Concerning those many others we treat on this day. The name in the Martyrologies. Maurolycus has the following: "At Rome, of Innocentius the Pope and Mamilianus the Martyr"; so that it is doubtful whether he is designated as having suffered at Rome. Hermann Greven in his Additions to Usuard: "On the same day, of Blessed Mamilianus the Martyr." But the manuscript Martyrology of Carlo Strozzi, Senator of Florence, and the Martyrology printed at Florence in the year 1486, have it thus: "At Rome, of S. Mamilianus the Martyr." Canisius calls him Maximilianus: the rest is the same. Galesinius, after recording S. Gregory the Great (of whom below), adds the following: "At Rome moreover of S. Mamilianus the Martyr, whose contest was exceedingly noble." Bellinus in the Martyrology for the use of the Roman Curia, followed by Molanus in his Supplement to Usuard and by Baronius in the Roman Martyrology, have it thus: "At Rome, of S. Mamilianus the Martyr." Galesinius adds that he is treated in the Acts of S. Urban the Pope. And Baronius relates that he is treated in the Acts of S. Urban the Pope and of S. Cecilia, on 22 November, in Surius, volume 6. Hence Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy writes the following: "Mamilianus, who is called Maximilianus in Bede and Usuard, was crowned with martyrdom under the Emperor Severus Alexander, at which time, as far as the persecution is concerned, S. Cecilia the Virgin, together with Valerianus and Tiburtius, suffered." And then in different type: "From the acts of S. Urban the Pope and the passion of S. Cecilia the Virgin," Whether he is called Maximus in the Acts of S. Cecilia? and this from Baronius's annotation, as is indicated next. But in those Acts no mention is made of any Mamilianus or Maximilianus, but of Maximus, who, from being a cubicularius of Almachius the Prefect, became a Christian and was beaten with fiery balls until he breathed his last; and because his feast day is not indicated, he was inscribed in the Martyrologies together with SS. Valerianus and Tiburtius on 14 April. Baronius therefore believed, as on many other occasions, Galesinius, and Ferrarius believed Baronius, and neither consulted the Acts of S. Cecilia in Surius. Ferrarius also cites Usuard, although it is actually Molanus in the Additions to Usuard. Meanwhile, we do not think those err from the truth who hold that the same person called S. Maximus in the Acts of S. Cecilia is the one called here Maximilianus and in contracted form Mamilianus, or even Maximinus in Felicius. Certainly in the ancient manuscript codices of Trier, Maximianus, Cornicularius of the Prefect, is always read in place of Maximus: whence the other forms of the name may have been corrupted. In the History of the Passion of S. Cecilia published by Antonio Bosio and in Mombritius, Maximus is called the Cornicularius of the Prefect, not the Cubicularius, as printed in Surius. Nevertheless, we did not wish on our own judgment to place him among those Passed Over and refer him to 14 April, but rather to present him to the reader with the observation already indicated, so that those who may later discover more may deign to bring new light. He seems to be different from S. Maximilianus, Bishop of Lorch.
[2] In the manuscript Florarium Sanctorum, the Translation of S. Maximilianus, Bishop of Lorch and Martyr, is noted: whose feast day is celebrated on 12 October. Perhaps the author of this Florarium thought that everything was to be understood concerning that Bishop Martyr. Again, on 29 October, the following is read in the Roman Martyrology: "On the same day, of the holy Bishops Maximilianus the Martyr and Valentinus the Confessor." These Saints, proposed without any place, the person who recently fabricated the Chronicle under the name of Dexter noticed and promptly assigned to Spain: he is followed by Tamayo Salazar in the Hispanic Martyrology. But Baronius took them from Molanus's additions to Usuard, in which it reads thus: "In the city of Passau, the triumph of the holy Bishops Maximilianus the Martyr and Valentinus the Confessor." But this is Maximilianus, Bishop of Lorch, and Valentinus, considered Bishop of Passau, whose bodies in the year 1285 were placed in an honorable tomb in the Church of Passau; as we said in the Life of S. Valentinus on 7 January, page 568, and in the Appendix, page 1094. These things do not seem to pertain here, since nowhere is the aforementioned Maximilianus or Mamilianus read to have been a Bishop.