Saint Maximilian of Tebessa

Very little is known about him beyond one document. Francesco Patruno, writing for santiebeati, says the information is scant and comes almost entirely from a Passion of Saint Maximilian. ² Franciscan Media calls it "an early, almost unembellished account" of his martyrdom, and Vermont Catholic, the magazine of the Diocese of Burlington, uses nearly the same words. ³⁴

The current Roman Martyrology gives the substance in a sentence. At Tebessa in Numidia, in modern Algeria, Maximilian, son of the veteran Victor and himself enrolled in the army, told the proconsul Dion that a faithful Christian could not serve as a soldier, refused the military oath, and was put to the sword. ¹

His father was Fabius Victor, a veteran. ²⁴ By the law of the time, Patruno explains, a veteran's son was bound to follow his father into the army. ² Vermont Catholic adds that the Roman army was then largely a volunteer force, but that sons of veterans were obliged to serve, and that Fabius Victor had fought for Rome and afterward become a Christian. ⁴

When Maximilian turned twenty-one he was presented for conscription. ⁴ Vermont Catholic says the recruiting officer was pleased with him and had him measured, and that the record gives his height as five feet ten inches. ⁴ Patruno says only that he was found fit for service and refused it. ² The sources differ slightly here: the Martyrology says he had already been enlisted, while Patruno and Vermont Catholic describe a recruit refusing at the point of enlistment. ¹²⁴

He was brought into the forum before the proconsul Dion and questioned about his refusal. ² Franciscan Media gives the exchange in English. "I cannot serve, I cannot do evil. I am a Christian," Maximilian said. ³ Dion answered, "You must serve or die." ³

"I will never serve," Maximilian replied. "You can cut off my head, but I will not be a soldier of this world, for I am a soldier of Christ." ³ Dion pointed out that there were Christian soldiers serving the emperors Diocletian and Maximian and the Caesars Constantius and Galerius. ³ "That is their business," Maximilian said. "I also am a Christian, and I cannot serve." ³ Patruno reads that reply as respectful of other people's choices and firm about his own. ²

"But what harm do soldiers do?" Dion asked. "You know well enough." ³ Dion warned that he would condemn him to death for contempt of the army. "I shall not die," Maximilian said. "If I go from this earth, my soul will live with Christ my Lord." ³

Dion read from his tablet a sentence of death by beheading, Patruno writes, for indiscipline in refusing military service. ² Maximilian answered with the words Deo gratias, thanks be to God. ² By the Passion, Patruno says, he was twenty-one years, three months and eighteen days old. ²

Before he died he turned to his father, who had come with him, and asked him to give the executioner the new clothes his father had prepared for his service in the army. ² A matron took up his body, Patruno says, and buried it on a hill near the tomb of the martyr Saint Cyprian. ² His father went home rejoicing and thanking God that he had been able to send such a gift ahead of him to heaven. ²³

Franciscan Media dates his life from 274 to March 12, 295. ³ Patruno puts the martyrdom about 295, on a March 12, under the consulship of Tuscus and Anullinus, and describes the place as near Carthage, at Tebessa. ² The Martyrology places it at Tebessa in Numidia. ¹ Vatican News lists him for March 12 as "St. Maximilian, Martyr in Africa." ⁵

He is commonly called one of the first Christian conscientious objectors, and Vermont Catholic presents him that way. ²⁴ Before the Edict of Milan, its writer says, many Christians believed refusing military service followed from the Gospel, partly from a conviction that the Gospel required peace and partly because a soldier's duties tied him to pagan gods and sacrifices; the article adds that the Church later moderated its position to allow self-defense and what became the just war tradition. ⁴

Patruno is more careful. In the acts of the early martyrs, he says, Maximilian's case stands alone: other Christian soldiers who died refused the acts of worship bound up with military duty, while Maximilian refused to be a soldier at all. ² He sets him beside Tertullian, who wrote about 211 that a baptized Christian should not enlist, and beside Saint Martin of Tours, who left the army about 350 saying, in Patruno's Italian translated here, "I am a soldier of Christ: I am not permitted to fight." ² Citing the scholar P. Siniscalco, Patruno concludes that Maximilian had two reasons, the worship of the emperors that enlistment involved and the violence it required, and that the second came first. ²

The current Martyrology puts it in its own terms: he said that a faithful Christian was not permitted to serve in the army, and refused the oath. ¹ The 1897 English edition of the Martyrology has no entry for him on March 12. ⁶ The saint of the same name honored in Austria, Maximilian of Lorch, is a different man.

santiebeati lists Saint Maximilian of Tebessa as patron of conscientious objectors, and Patruno writes that he may rightly be invoked as their protector. ² No other source consulted for this page names a patronage. ¹³⁴

The feast of Saint Maximilian of Tebessa is March 12, the day of his death. ¹² The current Roman Martyrology commemorates him that day, and santiebeati, Vermont Catholic and Vatican News give March 12 as well. ¹²⁴⁵ Franciscan Media files his story under March 14 but states that his liturgical feast is celebrated on March 12. ³

He was twenty-one, and the answer he gave was short. ³ Asked what harm soldiers did, he did not lecture the proconsul; he said that Dion knew well enough. ³

He did not condemn the Christians who served. When Dion named them, he said that was their business, and kept to what he could do himself. ²³

His father is the other figure in the story. A veteran who had served Rome walked with his son to the place of execution, was asked to give the executioner the new clothes he had prepared for the army, and went home thanking God. ²³

Patruno argues that the deepest reason for his refusal was a refusal to do violence. ² The Martyrology records only that he would not take the oath, and died for it. ¹