Saint Maximus of Aveia (d. ca. 250 AD) (sometimes also known as ''Saint Maximus of Aquila'') is one of the
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
s of
L'Aquila
L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valle ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
He was born in Aveia, nowadays known as
Fossa.
A
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...
, he was
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', 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 externa ...
ed for his faith. The tradition says he was tortured and then thrown over a
cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...
near his native city. This occurred during the persecutions of
Decius
Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius ( 201 ADJune 251 AD), sometimes translated as Trajan Decius or Decius, was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 249 to 251.
A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was procl ...
.
In 1256 the episcopal seat of Aveia was moved to L'Aquila, together with the
relics
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
of Maximus.
The
newly built cathedral of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of L'Aquila
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of L'Aquila ( la, Archidioecesis Aquilanus) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Italy.[Saint George
Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...]
, another martyr.
See also
*
Catholic Church in Italy
, native_name_lang = it
, image = San_Giovanni_in_Laterano_-_Rome.jpg
, imagewidth = 250px
, alt =
, caption = Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, the ''cathedra'' seat of the Pop ...
*
List of early Christian saints
This is a List of 1,085 Early Christian saints— saints before 450 AD— in alphabetical order by Christian name.
Wikipedia contains a calendar of saints listed by the day of the year on which they are traditionally venerated, as well as a Chron ...
*
Saint Maximus of Aveia, patron saint archive
References
External links
*
Entry in the Saints and Blessed encyclopedia
Italian saints
3rd-century Christian saints
{{Italy-saint-stub