MAXIMINUS 77
Hia private charities among the poor and necdj' of all descriptions were unlimited.
Maximilian was endowed with an uncommon ability for work. He was also sincerely religious and rigidly moral in conduct; he even went beyond the permissi- ble in his efforts to uphold and spread the faith. Maintaining like all princes of his time the axiom "Cujus regio ejus religio", he not only put down every movement in opposition to the Church in his own country but also exterminated Calvinism and Lutheranism root and branch in the territories he had acquired. Where admonition and instruction were not sufficient the soldier stepped in, and the poor peo- ple, who had already been obliged to change their faith several times with change of ruler, had now no choice but return to the Church or exile. Maximilian, in addition, never lost sight of secular advantage, as is shown by his numerous acquisitions of territory. Es- pecially valualile was the purchase of two-thirds of the countship of Hclfenstein, now a part of Wiirtemberg, which as a Bavarian dependence was preserved to the Church and has remained Catholic up to the pre-sent time, notwithstanding its Protestant surroundings. Maximilian was twice married. The first marriage was childless. By his second wife Maria, daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand II, whom he married 15 July, 16.35, he had two sons; the elder of these, Ferdinand Maria, as already mentioned, succeeded him.
Stieve, Maiimiiian I in Allgrm. dculsclie Biog., XXI (1885), 21 sq., gives bibliography Itrf.irc iss.',; cf. the statements in DoBERL. Entu'ickclungsgi-srlin hi, I!,j;.,ns, I (2nd ed., 1908). — TUkgIj, Die Bekehrung dcr OIh ri'i'l- iJ \mN.. 1903); Rabel, Das ehemalige BenediktineT-Ad,:l:<tijt \V < is^rnuhc in Jahrb. des Hist. Vereins Bomberg (1908). — For tlie founding of monasteries by Maximilian: Eberl, Gesch. d. bay. Kapuzinernrdensprovinz 1593-1902 (1902). — Deutinger, Beitnige zur Geschichte des Erzbisthums Miinchen-Freising, New Series, I (1901). — Lavisse-Rambaud, Histoire gcnerale, V, 508 sqq.^ Himly, Hist, de la formation territoriaJe des (tats de I'Europe centrale, II (1876). 164 sqq.; CoRREARD, Precis d'histoire moderne et con- lemporaine. 36 sqq. Pi US WlTTM.^NN.
Maximinus, Saint, Bishop of Trier, b. at Silly near Poitiers, d. there, 29 May, :352 or 12 Sept., 349. He was educated and ordained priest by St. Agritius, whom he succeeded as Bishop of Trier in 332 or 335. At that time Trier was the government seat of the Western Emperor and, by force of his office, Maxi- minus stood in close relation with the Emperors Con- stantine II and Constans. He was a strenuous de- fender of the orthodox faith against Arianism and an intimate friend of St. Athanasius, whom he harboured as an honoured guest during his exile of two years and four months (336-8) at Trier. He likewise received with honours the banished patriarch Paul of Constan- tinople in 341 and effected his recall to Constantinople. When four Arian bishops came from Antioch to Trier in 342 with the purpose of winning Emperor Constans to their siile, Maximinus refusetl to receive them and induced the emperor to reject their proposals. In con- junction with Pope Julius I and Bi.shop Hosius of Cor- dova, he persuaded the Emperor Constans to convene the Synod of Sardica in 343 and proliably took part in it. That the Arians considered him as one of their chief opponents is evident from the fact that they con- demned him by name along with Pope Julius I and Hosius of Cordova at their heretical synod of Philip- popolis in 343 (Mansi, " Sacrorum Cone, nova et ampl. Coll.", Ill, 136 sq.). In .345 he took part in the Synod of Milan and is said to have presided over a synod held at Cologne in 346, where Bishop Euphratas of Cologne was deposed on account of his leanings towards .\rian- ism. [Concerning the authenticity of the .\cts of this synod see the new French translation of Hefele's " Con- c'iliengeschichte ", I, ii (Paris, 1907), pp. S3q-.34.] He also .sent Sts. Castor and Lvibentius as missionaries to the valleys of the Mosel and the Lahn. It is doubtful whether the Maximinus whom the usurper Magnen- tius sent as legate to Constantinople in the interests of peace is identical with the Bishop of Trier (Athana-
MAXIMINUS
sius, " Apol. ad Const. Imp.", 9). His cult began right after his death. His feast is celebrated on 29 May, on which day his name stands in the martyrologies of'st. Jerome, St. Bede, St. Ado, and others. Trier honours him as its patron. In the autumn of 353 his body was buried in the church of St. John near Trier, where in the seventh century was founded the famous Benedic- tine Abbey of St. Maximinus, which flourished till 1802.
^ A life, full of fabulous accounts, b.v a monk of St. Maximinus in the eighth centurj-. is printed in Acta SS., May. VII. 21-24. The same life, revi-sed by Servatus Lupus, is found in Migne, P. L., CXIX. 21-24. and in Man. Germ. Script, rerum Merov., III. 74-82; DiEL. Der heilige Maximinus und dcr kcilige Paul- inus, Bischiife von Trier (Trier, 1875); Chamard. St. Maximin de Treves, St. Athanase et les semi-Ariens in Revue des Quest, hist., II (Paris, 1867). 66-96; Bennett in Diet. Christ. Biog., '• ^- Michael Ott.
Maximinus, Caius Valerius Daja. under his uncle Augustus (iaierius, the Caesar of Syria and Egypt, from tlie year 305; in 307 following the example of Conslant iiie, he assumed the title of Augustus. When Galfiius died in 311, the Caesar, Licinius, set out for the Hellespont to tesiege the provinces of the Near East. Maximinus obtained the sympathy of the population by granting a remission of taxation to the threatened provinces; also, he had in his power Galerius's widow and Valeria, Diocletian's daughter. An agreement was made fixing the ^Egean Sea and the straits between Europe and Asia as the boun- daries of the dominions and as no new Caesars were appointed, there were three legal emperors. Thus Diocletian's plan of governing the empire was aban- doned. Maximinus, a fanatical idolater and tyrant, continued the persecution of the Christians in his part of the empire with especial severity and persis- tency, even where the cruel Galerius had ccasi'<l. Be- sides sanguinary measures for the suppression of Christianity, he made attempts to cstalilish in both town and country a heathen organization similar to the Christian Church. The emperor made the hea- then high-priests and magicians of equal rank with the governors of provinces. His attempt to achieve re- nown by a war against the Persians in Armenia was frustrated by pestilence and bad harvests (Eusebius). When Constantine and Licinius published the edict of toleration for the Christians at Milan in 312, and Maximinus was asked to promulgate it in his part of the empire, he did so, because he saw clearly that it was directed against his anti-Christian policy. When in the winter of 312 Constantine's Gallic troops were withdrawn from Italy, and Licinius was still at Milan, Maximinus pushed on by forced marches to the capital, Byzantium, and captured it together with Heraclea. Licinius, taken by surprise, offered to make terms with him, which Maximinus trusting to gain an easy victory refused. Contrary to his expectation, and in spite of the superiority in numbers of his troops, he was de- feated near Adrianople, 30 April, 3l:{, and Hcd precip- itately to Nicomedia to endeavour to rally his army. Licinius liarassing him incessantly, published an edict of toleration for the Christians of Nicomedia so that Maximinus was obliged to withdraw to the Taurus where he entrenched himself in the passes. He then tried to win the Christians by issuing an edict of tole- ration; but his military situation was hopeless and he took poison (;n3). Licinius exterminated the Jovian family, murdering all the relatives of Diocletian who were at the court of Maximin. The edicts of the deceased emperor were cancelled, ami decrees favour- able to the Christians were now promulgated in the East.
Schim.kh, Grsrh. der rimischen Knisrnril. II (Gotha, 1887).
Kahi. Hoeber.
Maximinus Thrax, Caius Juliu.s Vkuu.s, Roman Ernjjeror 2:5.5-8, son of a Goth and an Alanic mother. When the Emperor Septimius Scverus was returning
