Maximilian

Who was Maximilian?

Saint Maximilian of Tebessa is a Christian saint whose feast day is observed on 12 March. He is a martyr of the Christian Church from the third century AD, born in AD 274. Because his father Fabius Victor was a soldier in the Roman army, Maximilian was obliged to join at the age of 21. Brought before the proconsul of Numidia Cassius Dion, he refused, stating that, as a Christian, he could not serve in the military. This led to his martyrdom by beheading on 12 March, AD 295, at the City of Thavaste, North Africa. He is noted as an early conscientious objector; the 1970s anti-Vietnam War clergy group Order of Maximilian took their name from him.