Maximus of Nola

Saint Maximus was bishop of Nola in southern Italy in the third century and died at Nola from the sufferings of the persecution of Decius. Very little is known of his life. He is commemorated on 15 January and on 7 February.

The main source is the writing of one of his successors in the see, Saint Paulinus of Nola. According to it, Maximus, who had been bishop for a long time, decided to leave his diocese and withdraw into the wilderness. As successor he ordained Saint Felix. In the time of the Roman persecutions, in the days of the emperor Decius, Maximus fled into the mountains, where he suffered greatly from hunger.

Felix, released from prison, set out to look for him. He found him and gave him to drink the juice of a vine which had miraculously borne fruit out of season. He took him on his shoulders and carried him to the city. Maximus died at Nola of the sufferings he had endured. His name is entered in the Roman Martyrology on 7 February.

He lived before the separation of the Churches, and so he is venerated as a saint of the undivided Church.