Maximilian (martyr)
| Saint Maximilian of Tebessa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 274 |
| Died |
12 March 295 Thavaste (Tébessa), Numidia (present day Algeria) |
| Feast | 12 March |
| Patronage | conscientious objectors |
Saint Maximilian of Tebessa (Latin: Maximilianus) is a berber Christian saint and martyr, whose feast day is observed on 12 March. Born in the third century, A.D. 274, the son of Fabius Victor, a soldier in the Roman army, Maximilian was obliged to enlist at the age of 21. On 12 March, A.D. 295, at the City of Thavaste (now: Tébessa, Algeria), North Africa.[1] he was brought before the proconsul of Africa Proconsularis, Cassius Dio, to swear allegiance to the Emperor as a soldier. He refused, stating that, as a Christian, he could not serve in the military,[2] leading to his immediate beheading by the sword. He is noted as the earliest recorded conscientious objector, although it is believed that there were some other Christians at that time who also refused military service and were executed.[3]
History
Maximilianus, born about 274, is a native of Theveste (today Tebessa) in eastern Numidia[4] (corresponding to the eastern part of modern Algeria) already annexed by Rome for four centuries. His father, a Christian named Fabius Victor is a former soldier enlisted in the Roman army.
Posterity
The 1970s anti-Vietnam War clergy group Order of Maximilian took their name from him.[5] Maximilian's name has been regularly read out, as a representative conscientious objector from the Roman Empire, at the annual ceremony marking International Conscientious Objectors' Day, 15 May,[6] at the Conscientious Objectors Commemorative Stone, Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury, London.
References
- ↑ Ott, Michael. "Maximilian." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 15 Mar. 2013
- ↑ Butler, Rev. Alban, "Saint Maximilian", Lives of the Saints, Vol. III, 1866
- ↑ Richard Alston, Soldier and Society in Roman Egypt, London and New York: Routledge, 1995, ISBN 0-415-12270-8, p 149.
- ↑ O.P., Charles-Louis Richard (1760-01-01). Dictionnaire universel, dogmatique, canonique, historique, geographique et chronologique des sciences ecclésiastiques ...: contenant l'histoire générale de la religion ... avec des sermons abregés des plus célebres orateurs chrétiens (in French). chez Jacques Rollin, chez Charles-Antoine Jombert, chez Jean-Baptiste-Claude Bauche.
- ↑ Marvin E. Gettleman (1985). Vietnam and America: A Documented History. Grove Press. p. 326. ISBN 978-0-394-62277-4. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
- ↑ http://www.ppu.org.uk/nomorewar/a_conscientiousObjection/coDay2.html