Maximilien
le Martyr (icône)
Максимилиан-мученик
(икона)
Saint Maximilien, martyr
En Numidie, parvenu à
l’âge prescrit par la loi, Maximilien, à vingt ans, opposa un net refus à
l’appel à accomplir, comme tous les citoyens romains, son service militaire
dans l’armée. Arrêté, il fut cité en jugement dans le forum. Aux questions du
proconsul qui voulait savoir les raisons qui s’opposaient au service militaire,
Maximilien répondit, avec grande simplicité et fermeté, qu’en conscience il ne
pensait pas que l’Évangile soit compatible avec l’exercice de quelque forme de
violence que ce soit. Par crainte qu’une telle attitude puisse se répandre
parmi les chrétiens, désormais nombreux dans l’Empire, Maximilien fut condamné
à la peine capitale, immédiatement exécutée, le 12 mars 295. Sa présence dans
le martyrologe sonne comme un avertissement perpétuel pour tous ceux qui
croient pouvoir associer avec désinvolture les exigences radicales de
l’Évangile et les ordres imposés par les sociétés humaines.
Saint Maximilien
Soldat, martyr en
Numidie (+ 295)
Son père était l'un des agents recruteurs de l'armée impériale. Maximilien avait vingt ans quand il comparut, comme réfractaire, devant le proconsul romain pour avoir refusé d'être enrôlé dans l'armée. Il se veut soldat du Christ et refuse de porter au cou la médaille à l'effigie de l'empereur. Pour cette raison, il est condamné à mort.
Un internaute nous signale qu'il aurait déclaré: "Je ne serai point soldat, je ne combattrai pas pour le siècle, je suis le soldat de mon Dieu!" et encore "Si l'on m'impose de porter au cou le signe de l'empereur, je le briserai... moi qui porte déjà le signe sacré du Christ, le fils du Dieu vivant!"
À Thébeste en Numidie, l'an 295, saint Maximilien, martyr. Fils du vétéran
Victor, et requis lui-même par la conscription, quand le proconsul Dion lui dit
: "Sois soldat et reçois le signe de l'enrôlement", il répondit :
"Je n'ai que faire de votre signe. Je porte le signe du Christ, mon Dieu.
Je ne peux servir dans l'armée, car je suis chrétien." Le proconsul le
condamna pour avoir refusé le serment militaire et donna l'ordre de le mettre à
mort par l'épée: il avait vingt et un ans.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/794/Saint-Maximilien.html
Saint Maximilien de
Théveste
Tout comme Maxime, Maximilien signifie en latin "le plus grand".
Plusieurs Maximilien ont illustré ce prénom. Nous célébrons aujourd'hui
un Maximilien qui est l'un des saints patrons possibles pour les
objecteurs de conscience ! Il vivait en Algérie au IIIe siècle. Fils de Fabius
Victor, vétéran chargé de lever des recrues pour l'armée, il comparaît à 21 ans
devant le proconsul d'Afrique : il pensait, comme Tertullien déjà, qu'un
chrétien ne pouvait exercer le métier des armes. Il déclare au juge : "Je
suis chrétien, soldat du Christ : je ne combattrai pour personne d'autre.
Marqué du sceau de Notre Seigneur, je ne lui donnerai pas de rival".
L'intrépide Maximilien
fut exécuté le 12 mars 295 à Théveste, aujourd'hui Tébessa en Algérie. Les
Actes de sa passion sont l'un des documents historiques les plus solides dont
on dispose sur la grande persécution de la fin du IIIe siècle en Afrique du nord.
Un autre Maximilien,
saint Maximilien Kolbe (du latin maximus : le plus grand), nous est
plus proche : le franciscain martyr en Pologne à Auschwitz en 1941. Sa fête est
le 14 août.
Passons en Bretagne pour
honorer saint Pol (ou Paol) de Léon. Au 6e siècle, il quitta la Bretagne
insulaire, alors envahie par les Angles, et se retira en l'île de Batz, tout en
portant l'Evangile dans le pays du Léon (Finistère), y fondant de nombreux
monastères.
Rédacteur : Frère Bernard
Pineau, OP
SOURCE : http://iphone.cfrt.fr/Web-TV/Saints/Maximilien
Saint Maximilien de
Théveste
Martyr à Tebessa (Africa
Proconsularis)
Fête le 12 mars
† près de Carthage 295
Martyr africain,
probablement à proximité de Carthage (Theveste, auj. Tebessa, à la frontière
algéro-tunisienne), ce fils de militaire romain, conduit devant le proconsul
Dion le 12 mars 295, pour l’enrôlement obligatoire, devint objecteur de
conscience parce qu’il était chrétien. Par sa foi chrétienne, il refusa le
service militaire et fut décapité. Il mourut en 295 à vingt et un ans. Étant
donné que son coprs fut transporté à Carthage pour y recevoir les funérailles,
on pense que son jugement et sa mort se déroulèrent à proximité de cette ville,
et que Théveste est une faute de lecture d’un copiste.
SOURCE : http://www.martyretsaint.com/maximilien-de-theveste/
Also
known as
Maximilian of Tebessa
Maximilian of Theveste
Mamilian….
Profile
Son of a Roman army veteran.
Conscientious objector – when drafted into the Roman army,
he refused to serve on the grounds that his faith prohibited
it. Martyred for
this stand.
Born
beheaded c.295 at
Thebeste, Numidia, North
Africa
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Readings
My army is the army of
God, and I cannot fight for this world. – Saint Maximilian
MLA
Citation
“Saint Maximilian of
Thebeste“. CatholicSaints.Info. 12 March 2023. Web. 14 August 2025. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-maximilian-of-thebeste/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-maximilian-of-thebeste/
Article
(Maximilian) (Saint) Martyr (March 12)
(3rd
century) Some authors believe him to have suffered in Rome under Alexander
Severus at the same period as Saint Cecilia. Others assert that he was put to
death in Numidia, about A.D. 295. He is said by the latter to have been buried
on a little hill at Carthage.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Mamilian”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
15 November 2014. Web. 14 August 2025. <https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-mamilian/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-mamilian/
Maximilian of Theveste M
(RM)
(also known as Maximilian
of Tebessa)
Died 296. In the African
churches of the late Roman Empire, it was not uncommon for liturgies to include
readings from the acta and passios of martyrs. The one often included for Saint
Maximilian is the authentic record of his trial in Numidia (now Algeria) and
execution for refusing to be conscripted into the Roman army. Maximilian
resisted because he didn't want to be tainted by the idolatry of wearing the
emperor's image around his neck.
Maximilian also refused
because he was a pacifist, perhaps one of the earliest conscientious objectors.
There has long been a debate within the Church concerning the radical pacifism
advocated by Our Lord and the less stringent, but more practical, position
allowing self-defense and just war. Prior to the Edict of Milan and the
toleration of Christianity, Christians believed that bearing arms contradicted
the Gospel. Tertullian, for example, prohibited military service. Saint
Hippolytus said that it was impossible to be a soldier and a catechumen--as
contradictory as being a prostitute and catechumen (at least part of his
reasoning dealt with the association of soldiers with pagan gods and
sacrifices). The Church moderated its position. The Council of Arles (314) said
that soldiers who left the army during peacetime would be excommunicated.
About 295, the proconsul
Dion went to Theveste to recruit soldiers for the third Augustan legion
stationed there. At this time the Roman army was mainly volunteers, but sons of
veterans were obliged to serve. Maximilian, the 21-year-old son of the Roman army
veteran Fabius Victor, was presented to the recruiting agent. The advocatus
Pompeianus, seeing that Maximilian would make an excellent recruit, asked for
him to be measured: he was 5'10" tall. The ensuing dialogue between the
proconsul Dion and Maximilian has been preserved to this day.
When asked his name,
Maximilian replied, "Why do you wish to know my name? I cannot serve
because I am a Christian." Nevertheless, orders were given for him to be
given the military seal. He answered, "I cannot do it: I cannot be a
soldier." When told he must serve or die, he said, "You may cut off
my head, but I will not serve. My army is the army of God, and I cannot fight
for this world," it was pointed out to him that there were Christians
serving as bodyguards for the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. To this he
replied, "That is their business. I am a Christian, too, and I cannot
serve." Dion then told Victor to correct his son. Victor, who had become a
Christian like his son, said, "He knows what he believes, and he won't
change his mind."
Dion insisted,
"Agree to serve and receive the military seal." "I already have
the seal of Christ, my God . . . I will not accept the seal of this world; if
you give it to me, I will break it for it is worthless. I cannot wear a piece
of lead around my neck after I have received the saving sign of Jesus Christ,
my Lord, the son of the living God. You do not know Him; yet He suffered for
our salvation: God delivered Him up for our sins. He is the one whom all
Christians serve; we follow Him as the Prince of Life and Author of
Salvation."
Again Dion stated that
there are other Christians who are soldiers. Maximilian answered, "They
know what is best for them. I am a Christian and I cannot do what is
wrong." Dion continued, "What wrong do those commit who serve in the
army?" Maximilian answered, "You know very well what they do."
Threatened with death if
he remained obstinate, Maximilian answered, "This is the greatest thing
that I desire. Dispatch me quickly. Therein lies my glory." Then he added,
"I shall not die. When I leave this earth, I shall live with Christ, my
Lord." He was sentenced accordingly: "Whereas Maximilian has
disloyally refused the military oath, he is sentenced to die by the
sword."
Just before his
execution, Maximilian encouraged his companions to persevere and asked his
father to give his new clothes to the executioner. We are told that Fabius
Victor "went home happily, thanking God for having allowed him to send
such a gift to heaven."
The place of Maximilian's
death is given as Theveste (Tebessa) in Numidia, but it may have been nearer
Carthage, where his body was taken for burial by a devout woman named
Pompeiana. It was buried close to the relics of Saint Cyprian.
As a side note, in 295,
Diocletian issued an edict linking pagan religious practice to marriage and
children. In 300, all soldiers were required to sacrifice to the civic gods
(Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth, Markus).
In art, St. Maximilian is
a warrior with a banner that says In hoc vinces (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0312.shtml
Maximilian of Thebeste
Martyred at Thebeste near Carthage,
12 March, 295. Thinking a Christian was
not permitted to be a soldier, he refused to enter the army and was beheaded.
Since death was not then the legal punishment for those who refused
to join the army (Arrius Menander, Digest XLIX, xvi, 4 P. 10), it is probable
that he was beheaded because he gave his Christianity as
the reason of his refusal. He was buried at Carthage by
the noble matron Pompejana.
Sources
Acta SS., Aug., IV,
425-430; RUINART, Acta Martyrum (Ratisbon, 1859), 609-12;
LECLERCQ, Les Martyrs, III (Paris, 1904), 100-04; TILLEMONT, Mémoires
pour servir a l'hist. ecclés. des six premiers siècles, VII (Paris, 1700),
405-09; TAMAYO, Discursos apologeticos de las reliquias d. S. Bonoso y
Maximiliano (Baeza, 1632). (2) Vita ac legenda S. Maximiliani in
PEZ, Script. rerum Austr., I, 22-34. Concerning its value see
RETTBERG, Kirschengesch. Deutschl., I (Gottingen, 1846), 158 sq.
RATZINGER, Forsch. zur Bayr. Gesch. (Kempten, 1898), 325 sq.;
KERSCHBAUMER, Gesch. des Bist. St. Poelten (1875), I, 61-78. (3)
ALLARD, La persécution de Diocletien, I (Paris, 1908), 99-105;
HARNACK Militia Christi (Tübingen, 1905), 114 sq.; RUINART, Acta
Martyrum (Ratisbon, 1859), 340-2, Fr. tr. LECLERCQ, Les Martyrs,
II (Paris, 1903), 152-5.
Ott, Michael.
"Maximilian." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1911. 12 Mar. 2016
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10075a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Benjamin F. Hull.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10075a.htm
St. Maximilian
Feastday: March 12
Death: 296
St. Maximilian of
Theveste, Martyr (Also known as Maximilian of Tebessa) Died 296. In the African
churches of the late Roman Empire, it was not uncommon for liturgies to include
readings from the acta and passios of martyrs. The one often included for Saint
Maximilian is the authentic record of his trial in Numidia (now Algeria) and
execution for refusing to be conscripted into the Roman army.
Maximilian resisted
because he didn't want to be tainted by the idolatry of wearing the emperor's
image around his neck. Maximilian also refused because he was a pacifist,
perhaps one of the earliest conscientious objectors. There has long been a
debate within the Church concerning the radical pacifism advocated by Our Lord
and the less stringent, but more practical, position allowing self-defense and
just war.
Prior to the Edict of
Milan and the toleration of Christianity, Christians believed that bearing arms
contradicted the Gospel. Tertullian, for example, prohibited military service.
Saint Hippolytus said that it was impossible to be a soldier and a
catechumen-as contradictory as being a prostitute and catechumen (at least part
of his reasoning dealt with the association of soldiers with pagan gods and
sacrifices).
The Church moderated its
position. The Council of Arles (314) said that soldiers who left the army
during peacetime would be excommunicated. About 295, the proconsul Dion went to
Theveste to recruit soldiers for the third Augustan legion stationed there. At
this time the Roman army was mainly volunteers, but sons of veterans were
obliged to serve. Maximilian, the 21-year-old son of the Roman army veteran
Fabius Victor, was presented to the recruiting agent. The advocatus Pompeianus,
seeing that Maximilian would make an excellent recruit, asked for him to be
measured: he was 5'10" tall.
The ensuing dialogue
between the proconsul Dion and Maximilian has been preserved to this day. When
asked his name, Maximilian replied, "Why do you wish to know my name? I
cannot serve because I am a Christian." Nevertheless, orders were given
for him to be given the military seal. He answered, "I cannot do it: I
cannot be a soldier." When told he must serve or die, he said, "You
may cut off my head, but I will not serve. My army is the army of God, and I
cannot fight for this world," it was pointed out to him that there were
Christians serving as bodyguards for the emperors Diocletian and Maximian.
To this he replied,
"That is their business. I am a Christian, too, and I cannot serve."
Dion then told Victor to correct his son. Victor, who had become a Christian
like his son, said, "He knows what he believes, and he won't change his
mind." Dion insisted, "Agree to serve and receive the military
seal." "I already have the seal of Christ, my God . . . I will not
accept the seal of this world; if you give it to me, I will break it for it is
worthless. I cannot wear a piece of lead around my neck after I have received
the saving sign of Jesus Christ, my Lord, the son of the living God. You do not
know Him; yet He suffered for our salvation: God delivered Him up for our sins.
He is the one whom all Christians serve; we follow Him as the Prince of Life
and Author of Salvation."
Again Dion stated that
there are other Christians who are soldiers. Maximilian answered, "They
know what is best for them. I am a Christian and I cannot do what is
wrong." Dion continued, "What wrong do those commit who serve in the
army?" Maximilian answered, "You know very well what they do."
Threatened with death if he remained obstinate, Maximilian answered, "This
is the greatest thing that I desire. Dispatch me quickly. Therein lies my
glory." Then he added, "I shall not die. When I leave this earth, I
shall live with Christ, my Lord."
He was sentenced
accordingly: "Whereas Maximilian has disloyally refused the military oath,
he is sentenced to die by the sword." Just before his execution,
Maximilian encouraged his companions to persevere and asked his father to give
his new clothes to the executioner. We are told that Fabius Victor "went
home happily, thanking God for having allowed him to send such a gift to
heaven."
The place of Maximilian's
death is given as Theveste (Tebessa) in Numidia, but it may have been nearer
Carthage, where his body was taken for burial by a devout woman named
Pompeiana. It was buried close to the relics of Saint Cyprian.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5018
St. Maximilian, Martyr
HE was the son of Victor, a Christian soldier in Numidia. According to the law
which obliged the sons of soldiers to serve in the army at the age of
twenty-one years, his measure was taken, that he might be enrolled in the
troops, and he was found to be of due stature, being five Roman feet and ten
inches high, 1 that
is, about five feet and a half of our measure. But Maximilian refused to
receive the mark, which was a print on the hand, and a leaden collar about the
neck, on which were engraved the name and motto of the emperor. His plea was,
that in the Roman army superstitions, contrary to the Christian faith, were
often practised, with which he could not defile his soul. Being condemned by
the proconsul to lose his head, he met death with joy in the year 296. See
his acts in Ruinart.
Note 1. See Tr. sur la Milice Romaine, t. 1. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume III: March. The Lives
of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/3/123.html
St. Maximilian of Tebessa
The Passion of St.
Maximilian of Tebessa (BHL 5813)
1. On the 12th day
of March during the consulship of Tuscus and Anolinus [295], when Fabius Victor
had been brought into the forum at Tebessa, together with Maximilianus, and
their advocate Pompeianus had been granted an audience, the last declared,
"The temonarius Fabius Victor is present, together with
Valerianus Quintianus, the praepositus Caesariensis, and the fine recruit
Maximilianus, Victor's son. Since he is acceptable, I ask that he be
measured." The proconsul Dion said, "What are you called ?"
Maximilianus replied, "Why do you want to know my name ? It is not
permitted to me to serve in the military since I am a Christian". The
proconsul Dion said, "Ready him". When he was being got ready,
Maximilianus replied, "I cannot serve in the military; I cannot do wrong;
I am a Christian." The proconsul Dion said, "Let him be
measured". When he had been measured, an official reported, "He is
five feet ten inches tall." Dion said to the official, "Let him be
marked." And as Maximilianus resisted, he replied, "I will not do it;
I cannot serve in the military."
2. Dion said,
"Serve so that you do not perish." Maximilianus replied, "I will
not serve; cut off my head; I do not serve the world, but I do serve my
God."Dion the proconsul said, "Who has persuaded you of this ?"
Maximilianus replied, "My soul and he who has called me." Dion said
to his father Victor, "Advise your son." Victor replied, "He
himself knows - he has his purpose - what is best for him." Dion said to
Maximilianus, "Serve and accept the seal." He replied, "I will
not accept the seal: I already have the seal of my Christ." Dion the
proconsul said, "I will send you to your Christ right now." He
replied, "I wish that you would do so. That is even my title to
glory." Dion said to his staff, "Let him be marked." And when he
was resisting, he replied, "I do not accept the world's seal, and if you
give it to me, I will break it, since I value it at nought. I am a Christian.
It is not permitted to me to bear the lead upon my neck after [having received]
the saving seal of my Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, he whom you
do not know, who suffered for the life of the world, whom God surrendered for
our sins. All of us Christians serve Him. Him we follow as the source of life
and author of salvation." Dion said, "Serve, and accept the seal, so
that you do not suffer a terrible death." Maximilianus replied, "I
will not die. My name is already with my Lord; I cannot serve in the
military." Dion said, "Have regard to your youth and serve; for this
befits a young man." Maximilianus replied, "My service is for my
Lord; I cannot serve the world. I have already said: I am a Christian."
Dion the proconsul said, "There are Christian soldiers in the sacred
retinue of our lords Diocletian, Maximianus, Constantius, and Maximus, and they
serve." Maximilianus replied, "They themselves know what is best for
them. But I am a Christian, and I cannot do wrong." Dio said, "What
wrong do they who serve do ?" Maximilianus replied, "You know well
what they do." Dion replied, "Serve, lest, having scorned military
service, you begin upon a terrible death." Maximilianus replied, "I
will will not die; even if I do depart the world, my spirit will live with my
Lord Christ."
3. Dion said,
"Strike out his name." And when it had been struck out, Dion said,
"Because you have disloyally refused military service, you will receive
the appropriate sentence in order to serve as an example to others." And
he read his decision from his tablet, "Maximilianus, since you have
disloyally refused the military oath, it has been decided for you to be
punished by the sword." Maximilianus replied, "Thanks be to
God." He was 21 years, 3 months, and 18 days old. And when he was being
led to the place [of execution], he spoke as follows, "Dearest brothers,
with an eager desire, hurry with as much courage as you can so that it may
befall you to see the Lord and that he may reward you also with a similar
crown." And with a joyous face, he addressed his father as follows,
"Give that guard the new clothing which you had got ready for me during my
military service, so that I may welcome you with a hundredfold reward and we
may glory with the Lord together." And so he suffered death shortly
afterwards. And the matron Pompeiana obtained his body from the judge and,
having placed it in her carriage, she brought it to Carthage, and buried it
beneath a little hill near the martyr Cyprian and the palace. And so, after the
13th day, the same woman died, and was buried there. But his father Victor
returned to his home with great joy, thanking God that he had sent on ahead
such a gift to the Lord, he who was about to follow shortly afterwards.
Select Bibliography
Primary Text
Bastiaensan, A.A.R. et
al. (eds.), Atti e passioni dei martiri (1987), 238-45 [BHL 5813]
Secondary Literature
Bremmer, J. and den
Boeft, J. "Notiunculae Martyrologicae II", Vigiliae Christianae 36
(1982), 383-402, at 393-95
Brock, P. "Why did
St. Maximilian Refuse to Serve in the Roman Army ?", Journal of
Ecclesiastical History 45 (1994), 195-209
Cacitti, R.
"Massimiliano - un obiettore di coscienza del tardo impero", Humanitas 36
(1980), 828-41
Delehaye, H.
"Réfractaire et martyr", in his Mélanges d'Hagiographie Grecque
et Latine (Brussels, 1966)
di Lorenzo, E. Gli
Acta S. Maximiliani Martyris (Naples, 1975)
Siniscalco, P. Massimiliano,
un obiettore di coscienza del tardo impero. Studi sulla "Passio S.
Maximiliani" (Turin, 1974)
Siniscalco, P.
"Bibbia e letteratura cristiana d'Africa nella "Passio S.
Maximiliani", in Forma Futuri: Studi in onore del Cardinale Michele
Pellegrinio (Turin, 1975), 595-613
Zuckerman, C. "Two
Reforms of the 370s: Recruiting Soldiers and Senators in the Divided
Empire", Revue des Études Byzantines 56 (1998), 79-139, at
136-139
Woods, D. "St.
Maximilian and the Jizya", in P. Defosse (ed.), Hommages à Carl
Deroux. V. Christianisme et Moyen Âge, Néo-latin et survivance de la
latinité (Collection Latomus 279: Brussels, 2003), 266-76
SOURCE : http://www.ucc.ie/archive/milmart/Maximilian.html
San Massimiliano di
Tebessa Martire
Da una «Passio Sancti
Massimiliani» si sa che Massimiliano subì il martirio intorno al 295, un 12
marzo, sotto il consolato di Tusco e Anulino (o Anulio), nei pressi di
Cartagine, a Tebessa. Era figlio del veterano Fabio Vittore e, secondo le leggi
del tempo, era tenuto a seguire la carriera del genitore. Il giovane cristiano,
tuttavia, rifiutò tale strada, nonostante fosse riconosciuto abile al servizio
militare. Condotto nel Foro, dinanzi al proconsole Dione, fu da questi
interrogato circa le ragioni del suo rifiuto. Egli con fermezza rispose: «Non
mi è lecito fare il soldato, giacché sono cristiano». Un'affermazione che lo
condusse al martirio. (Avvenire)
Patronato: Obiettori di
coscienza
Etimologia: Massimiliano
= composto di Massimo e Emiliano (dal latino)
Emblema: Palma
Martirologio Romano: A
Tebessa in Numidia, nell’odierna Algeria, san Massimiliano, martire, che,
figlio del veterano Vittore e anch’egli arruolato nella milizia, rispose al
proconsole Dione che a un fedele cristiano non era lecito servire nell’esercito
e, rifiutatosi di prestare il giuramento militare, fu giustiziato con la spada.
Della vita di questo Santo si hanno scarne notizie. La maggior parte di esse, comunque, le apprendiamo da una Passio Sancti Massimiliani.
Si viene da essa a sapere che Massimiliano subì il martirio intorno al 295 d.C., un 12 marzo, sotto il consolato di Tusco e Anulino (o Anulio), nei pressi di Cartagine, a Tebessa. Si dice usualmente che egli fu uno dei primi obiettori di coscienza cristiani, che rifiutarono le armi in maniera ferma, lucidamente consapevole ed animata da uno spirito senza esibizionismi e ben lontano da qualsivoglia retorica; ma dagli atti e passioni dei martiri delle origini, appare l’unicità del caso di S. Massimiliano, che abdicò espressamente al ruolo di soldato nell’ora suprema del martirio. Si trattò, negli altri casi, più propriamente di rifiuto degli atti di culto connessi all’adempimento degli obblighi militari, non tanto quindi di una forma di obiezione di coscienza in senso proprio.
Il martire in parola si inscrive a pieno titolo in quella corrente particolarmente viva nei primi secoli del Cristianesimo, ancor prima della Riforma protestante, che assai spesso si tende a minimizzare tanto che, utilizzando la terminologia di alcuni autori, si potrebbe definire “cristianesimo sommerso”. Essa, tuttavia, ha attraversato i secoli, giungendo sino a noi, avendo illustri testimoni noti, come il priore di Barbiana, don Lorenzo Milani, e padre Balducci, e meno noti, come il contadino cattolico austriaco Franz Jaegerstaetter, il quale, sotto il Nazismo di Hitler, fu processato e decapitato per essersi rifiutato di essere arruolato nei reparti della Wermacht.
Questo movimento di idee, fortemente radicato prima che al Cristianesimo fosse riconosciuta da Costantino la piena libertà (ma anche vivo successivamente), ravvisava una totale inconciliabilità tra l’etica della nuova fede ed il servizio militare, a qualsiasi titolo prestato, anche se inizialmente non si estrinsecò nelle forme dell’obiezione di coscienza tradizionalmente intesa. Basti citare, a questo riguardo, l’opera di Tertulliano, De corona, composta intorno al 211 d.C. Essa prendeva spunto da un episodio concernente un giovane soldato – del quale non si conosce il nome, ma che viene definito dallo scrittore cristiano Dei miles (militare di Dio) – che rifiutò di porsi sul capo una corona d’alloro durante una cerimonia legata al culto dell’imperatore. Il militare spiegò tale suo atteggiamento proclamandosi cristiano, venendo per questo rinchiuso in carcere in attesa della condanna. Partendo da tale episodio, Tertulliano, nella sua opera, si domandava se un cristiano potesse prestare il servizio militare. Egli, quindi, distingueva due ipotesi: quella del cristiano non ancora arruolato nell’esercito e quella del militare che si convertisse alla nuova fede. Nel primo caso, per l’insigne Padre della Chiesa, vi sarebbe un’assoluta incompatibilità tra i doveri della fede ed i doveri del militare, in quanto il battezzato, ricevendo il sigillo di appartenenza esclusiva a Cristo, non potrebbe assoggettarsi ad altri (siano essi imperatori, dèi, ecc.). Nel secondo caso, al militare non resterebbe che un’alternativa: l’abbandono dell’esercito ovvero l’assoluta attenzione a non compiere azioni contrarie alla fede, sino, se necessario, al sacrificio della propria vita.
In conclusione, quindi, si sosteneva, in senso antimilitaristico, che l’unica “guerra” lecita per il cristiano fosse quella contro le alienazioni del mondo. Analogo concetto l’illustre Padre lo esprimeva, pressoché nello stesso periodo, nel De idolatria. Altri autorevoli Padri della Chiesa (Origene, Lattanzio, Cipriano, Ippolito, Minucio Felice, ecc.) manifestavano idee simili.
Il nostro martire, dunque, assieme ad altri testimoni della fede (come, ad esempio, Marino, Marcello, Giulio) e tanti cristiani, ben si inquadra nella schiera di coloro che, per obbedire alla propria coscienza, accettarono la sanzione di morte, inflitta per il rifiuto di comportamenti lesivi di convincimenti interiori, possedendo essi già il signum Christi, ricevuto con il battesimo.
Basti ricordare che, pochi decenni dopo Costantino, intorno al 350 d. C., S. Martino di Tours abbandonò il servizio militare con il celebre episodio noto agli agiologi come "scena di Worms", motivando tale rifiuto con l’obiezione "Sono soldato di Cristo: non mi è lecito combattere". All’imperatore Giuliano (l’Apostata), che lo accusava di viltà dinanzi all’imminente battaglia, egli replicò offrendosi di andare incontro ai nemici disarmato.
L’obiezione di Martino, in realtà, riecheggia molto da vicino le motivazioni di S. Massimiliano.
Dalla Passio del martire, si apprende che questi era figlio del veterano Fabio Vittore e che, secondo le leggi del tempo, era tenuto a seguire la carriera del genitore. Il giovane cristiano, tuttavia, rifiutò tale strada, nonostante fosse riconosciuto abile al servizio militare. Condotto nel Foro, dinanzi al proconsole Dione, fu da questi interrogato circa le ragioni del suo rifiuto. Egli con fermezza rispose: "Non mi è lecito fare il soldato, giacché sono cristiano". Alle insistenze e lusinghe del proconsole, egli continuò a ripetere che: "Non posso fare il soldato, non posso fare il male, sono cristiano". All’obiezione che, nella guardia d’onore degli imperatori Diocleziano e Massimiano e dei cesari Costanzo e Massimo (Galerio), vi erano diversi soldati cristiani, il martire rispose in maniera estremamente rispettosa per le scelte altrui, ma dignitosa in merito alla propria: "Essi sanno ciò che è bene per loro. Io, da parte mia, sono cristiano e non posso fare del male".
Di fronte a tale ferma ed irremovibile posizione, il proncosole Dione lesse sulla tavoletta la condanna a morte, mediante decapitazione, per il giovane Massimiliano per indisciplina, avendo egli rifiutato il servizio militare. Letta la condanna, al martire non restò che esclamare: Deo gratias (siano rese grazie a Dio)! Aveva, secondo la Passio, appena ventun’anni, tre mesi e diciotto giorni. Prima di morire, rivolgendosi al padre che lo accompagnava, con volto radioso, disse di donare al carnefice la sua veste nuova, che il genitore aveva preparato per il servizio militare.
Subìto il martirio, il corpo fu raccolto da una matrona che lo ricompose dignitosamente e lo seppellì in una collina, nei pressi della tomba del martire S. Cipriano. Il padre Vittore, facendo ritorno a casa, lodava Dio ed era pieno di gioia, avendogli mandato innanzi un sì prezioso dono, a Lui che era pronto a raggiungerlo in seguito.
Come ha dimostrato lo studioso P. Siniscalco, le ragioni del martire si poggiavano unicamente sulle sue convinzioni, basate su un’interpretazione personale del Vangelo e del messaggio cristiano. L’autore, in effetti, osserva che, come cristiano, Massimiliano aveva due ragioni per obiettare al servizio: in primo luogo, l’arruolamento comportava un atto di culto alle "divinità" degli imperatori; in secondo luogo, comportava la commissione di atti di violenza. Dall’analisi da lui condotta sul testo della Passio, l’autore desume che l’obiezione di coscienza del martire, primariamente, si fondava sul rifiuto di commettere qualsivoglia violenza, tradendo così lo spirito del Vangelo. Per questo, egli, a giusto titolo, può invocarsi quale unico protettore degli obiettori di coscienza.
Autore: Francesco Patruno
