MAXENTIUS
73
MAXENTIUS
applause. As a reward he rcceiveil a benefice and ap-
pointment as royal preacher. At the General Synod
of 1775 he fearlessly exposed the failings of the court
bishops, and in 178-1, preaching on St. Vincent of
Paul, he denounced the ingratitude of France towards
one of her worthiest sons. These two sermons have
been preserved; the remainder were burnt by Maury
himself — to save, as he said, his reputation. Never-
theless, it was owing to them that he obtained a seat
in the Academy (178-1). In 1789 he was elected by
the clergy of P^ronne to te their deputy in the States-
General, and soon became the acknowledged leader
of the Court and Church party. Mirabeau's name at
once occurs whenever the National Assembly is men-
tioned. Little is heard of the Abbe Maury, who was
the great tribune's most doughty adversary, and who,
though always defeated on the vote, was not seldom
the conqueror in the debate. In September, 1791,
the Assembly was dissolved, and Maury quitted
France for Coblenz, the headquarters of the emigrants.
Here he was received by the king's brothers with
extraordinary attention. Pius VI invited him to re-
side in Rome, and created him Archbishop of Niciea
(April, 1792). Soon afterwards he represented the
Holy See at the Diet of Frankfort, where Francis II
was elected emperor. The royal and noble person-
ages assembled there vied with one another in showing
him honour. On his return he was made cardinal and
Archbishop of Montefiascone. When the Republican
armies overran Italy in 1798, Maury fled to Venice,
and took a prominent part, as representative of Louis
XVIII, in the conclave at which Pius VII was elected
(1800). He did his best to stop the drawing up of the
Concordat, but this did not prevent hira from desert-
ing his royal master and returning to Paris. Just as
he had given his whole energies to the royal cause, so
now he devoted himself entirely to Napoleon. In the
difficult question of the divorce he sided with the
emperor, and it was he who suggested a means of dis-
pensing with the papal institution of the bishops. He
accepted from Napoleon in this way the See of Paris,
though he never styled himself anything but arch-
bishop-elect. At the fall of the Empire (April, 1814),
he was ordered to quit France, and was suspended by
the pope. During the Hundred Days he was con-
fined in the Castle of St. Angelo. Consalvi obtained
his release, and brought about his reconciliation with
Pius VII. His position as cardinal was restored to
him, and he was made a member of the Congregation
of Bishops and Regulars. Maury did not live long to
enjoy his restoration to papal favour. The hardships
of his prison life had destroyed his constitution, and
aggravated the malady from which he had long been
suffering. Early in May, 1817, his strength had so
failed that the Last Sacraments were administered to
him. During the night of 10 May his attendants
found him lying dead with his rosary still in his
grasp.
Louis XVIII had obstinately refused all reconcilia- tion, and now forbade his body to be buried in his titular church, Trinita dei Monti. By order of the pope the remains were laid before the high altar of the Chiesa Nuova, bv the side of Baronius and Tarugi. When Pius VII heard of his death he said: " He com- mitted many faults, but who is there that has not done the like? I myself have committed many grave ones.^' „ J- ,
(Euvres Choisies (Paris, 1827): Pocjoolat. Le Cardinal Maury: sa Vie et ses (Euvres (Paris, 18.5.'j); Ricard, L4'>°^ Maury, 174S-179I (Paris. 1887); Idem, Correspondanceptplo- matigue et Mhnoires inedits du Cardinal Maury, 1792-181 r (Lille, 1891); Bonet-Maury, Le Cardinal Maury daprH sa Correspondance et ses Memoires inedits (Paris, 1892); ^ainte- Beove, Causeries du Lundi, IV (Paris, 1853); Scannell in Irish Eccl. Record (1892). „ „
T. B. SCANNELL.
Maxentius, Joannes, leader of the so-called Scyth- ian monks, appears in history at Constantinople
in 519 and 520. These monks adopted the formula:
"One of the Trinity suffered in the flesh" to exclude
Nestorianism and Monophysitism, anil they sought to
have the works of Faustus of Riez condemned as being
tainted with Pelagianism. On both these points they
met with opposition. John Maxentius presented an
appeal to the papal legates then at Constantinople (Ep.
ad legatos sedis apostolica", P. G., LXXXVI, i, 75-86) ;
but it failed to bring forth a favourable decision . Some
of the monks (not Maxentius, however) proceeded,
therefore, to Rome to lay the case before Pope Hor-
misdas. As the latter delayed his decision, they ad-
dressed themselves to some African bishops, banished
to Sardinia, and St. Fulgentius, answering in the name
of these prelates, warmly endorsed their cause (Fulg.
ep., xvii in P. L., LXV, 451-93). Early in August, 520,
the monks left Rome. Shortly after, 1.3 August, 520,
Horraisdas addressed a letter to the African bishop,
Possessor, then at Constantinople, in which he severely
condemned the conduct of the Scythian monks, also
declaring that the writings of Faastus were not re-
ceived among the authoritative works of the Fathers
and that the sound doctrine on grace was contained in
the works of St. Augustine (Hormi.sdse ep., cxxiv in
Thiel, p. 926). Maxentius assailed this letter in the
strongest language as a document written by heretics
and circulated under the pope's name (.\d epistulam
Hormisda; re-sponsio, P. G., LXXXVI, i, 93-112).
This is the last trace of the Scythian monks and their
leader in history. The identification of John Maxen-
tius with the priest John to whom Fulgentius ad-
dres.sed his "De veritate pra^destinationis etc." and
with the priest and archimandrite, John, to whom the
African bishops sent their "Epistula synodica", rests
on a baseless assumption. Maxentius is also the
author of: (1) two dialogues against the Nestorians;
(2) twelve anathematisms against the Nestorians: (3)
a treatise against the AcephaU (Monophysites). .\s
to the " Professio de Christo", printed as a separate
work, it is but a part of the " Epistola ad legatos sedis
apostoliciE". His works, originally written in Latin,
have reached us in a rather unsatisfactory condition.
'They were first published by Cochlteus (Basle and
Hagenau, 1520), reprinted in P. G., LXXXVI, i,
75-158.
NoRls. Opera Omnia (Verona. 1729). I, 474-504; III. 77,5- 942; LooFS. Leontius von Byzam. 228-61, in Texte und Unter- such., Ill (Leipzig, 1887); Davids in Diet. Christ. Bioy., s. v. Maxentius (4); Bardenhewer, Palrology, tr. Shahan (St. Louis, 1908), 548^9.
N. A. Weber.
Maxentius, Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor .306-12, son of the Emperor Maximianus Herculius and son-in-law of the chief Emperor Galerius. After his father's abdication he lived in Rome as a private citizen; but when Galerius established in Rome and Italy the new poll and land taxes decreed Ijy Diocle- tian he was elected (28 October, 306) rival emperor. Maxentius owed his elevation not to personal merit but to the senators and pretorians who, because of the unusual measures of the emperor, feared lest they should lose their privileged position. Maxentius's adherents then summoned his father from Campania to Rome; and the young ruler invested him with the purple as co-regent. '7'hus the Roman enipin; had six rulers. Severus, the Augustus of the West, re- ceived a commission from Galerius to expel the youthful usurper from Rome; but when he reached the capital, part of his army deserted to their old com- mander, Maximian. Severus with a few followers escaped to Rav(miia so as to maintain military rela- tions with Galerius. He then made terms with Maximian and surrendered to him, expecting honour- able treatment, but he was imprisoned soon after- wards and, Galerius approaching from Illyria with an army, he was forced to commit suicide. Alarmed at Galerius's intervention, Maximian on Itehalf of .Maxen-
