Saint Maximus (died 250) was a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

. The

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Decius Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius ( 201June 251), known as Trajan Decius or simply Decius (), was Roman emperor from 249 to 251. A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was proclaimed emperor by his troops a ...

published a decree ordering the

veneration Veneration (; ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Veneration of saints is practiced, ...

of busts of the deified emperors. Failure to pay homage to these idols would be considered high treason, prosecuted by torture and death. The merchant Maximus, originally from

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, was called before the consul Optimus. Maximus provided his name, profession and identity as a Christian. When Optimus ordered Maximus to "Sacrifice to save your life; if not I shall make you die in torment," Maximus answered, "I have always wished it; it is in order to pass out of this short and miserable life to the life eternal that I have declared my faith." Maximus was tortured on the rack and by being beaten with rods, but because he would not recant, Optimus ordered him lapidated. Accordingly, on May 4, 250, Maximus was led outside the city walls and stoned to death. Evidence for his story comes from an ''acta'' that is part of the "proconsular acts," a text created by the clerk of the tribunal of the

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that established the martyrology. His

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

in the

is April 30.

References

250 deaths 3rd-century Christian martyrs Year of birth unknown People executed by stoning {{Italy-saint-stub