Maximilian of Lorch

Saint Maximilian was a bishop and missionary in the Roman province of Noricum, born at Celeia, now Celje in Slovenia. He received the crown of martyrdom by beheading in the second half of the third century, according to the sources on 12 October 288. The Church remembers him on 12 October.

He was born into a rich family at Celeia and was baptized by a priest named Orianus. Left without parents, he freed the slaves of his father's house, distributed his wealth to the poor and became a monk, according to some sources. As an adult he made a pilgrimage to Rome. Pope Sixtus II sent him to Lauriacum (Lorch) in Noricum, where he worked as a missionary, founded the church at Lorch and served as bishop. According to Serbian sources he spread Christianity among the Slavs with great success and cared for the poor, the sick and persecuted Christians.

When Emperor Numerian began a persecution, the prefect of Noricum frightened the Christians and many offered sacrifice to idols. Maximilian returned to his native region to strengthen them in the faith. For this he was seized and brought to the temple of the god Mars to sacrifice. Because he firmly refused, the prefect ordered his head cut off.

His veneration appears at least from the seventh century in Bavaria and at Salzburg. In that century Saint Rupert built a church in his honour at Bischofshofen in the Salzach valley and brought his relics there. They were moved to Passau in 985. At Celje "Maximilian's Day" is celebrated and the city park bears his name. According to one source his relics are kept in a church at Celje dedicated to him.