Saint of the Day – 29 May – St Maximinus of Trier (Died c 346) Confessor, Defender of the True Faith

Saint of the Day – 29 May – St Maximinus of Trier (Died c 346) the Fifth Bishop of Trier and Confessor, Defender of the True Faith, Miracle-worker. (Died c 346) Born at Silly near Poitiers, France and died in c 346. Patronage – of the City of Trier and of the Diocese, protection against perjury, loss at sea and destructive rains. Also known as – Maximus, Maximin.

The Roman Martyrology states of him today: “At Treves, the blessed Maximinus, Bishop and Confessor, who received, with honour, the father St Athanasius, banished by the Arian persecutors.”

Maximinus was an opponent of Arianism and was supported by the courts of Constantine II and Constans, who harboured, as an honoured guest, St Athanasius twice during his exile from Alexandria. These two incidents were in 336–37 and again, in 343. In the Arian controversy, Maximinus had begun in the party of St Paul I of Constantinople; however, he took part in the Synod of Sardica convoked by Pope Julius I (c 342) and, when four Arian Bishops consequently came from Antioch to Trier, with the purpose of winning Emperor Constans to their side, Maximinus refused to receive them and induced the Emperor to reject their proposals.

He was born near Poitiers, nobly descended, and related to Maxentius, Bishop of that City before St.Hilary. The reputation of the sanctity of St Agritius, Bishop of Triers, drew him, as a young man. to Trier and after a most virtuous education, he was admitted to Holy Orders. Upon the death of Agritius, Maximinus was chosen as his successor.

When St Athanasius was banished to Triers in 336, Maximinus received him, not as a person disgraced but, as a most glorious Confessor of Christ and thought it a great happiness, to enjoy the company of so illustrious a Saint. St Athanasius stayed with him for two years; and his works bear evidence to the indefatigable vigilance, heroic courage and exemplary virtue, of our Saint, who was before that timem famous for the gift of miracles.

St Paul, Bishop of Constantinople, being banished by Constantius, found also a retreat at Triers and, in Maximinus, a powerful protector. Our saint, by his counsels, precautioned the Emperor Constans against the intrigues and snares of the Arians and on every occasion, discovered their artifice and opposed their faction.

He was one of the most illustrious Defenders of the Catholic Faith in the Council of Sardica in 347 and had the honour to be ranked, by the Arians, together with St Athanasius, in an excommunication, which they pretended to fulminate against them at Philippopolis.

He also sent Sts Castor and Lubentius as Missionaries to the valleys of the Mosel and the Lahn.

Maximinus is said to have died in Poitou in 349, having made a journey thither to see his relatives. His cult began right after his death. His feast is celebrated on 29 May, on which day his name stands in the Martyrologies of St Jerome, St Bede, St Ado,and others. Trier honours him as its Patron. In the autumn of 353 his body was buried in the Church of St John near Trier, where in the seventh century was founded the famous Benedictine Abbey of St.Maximinus, which flourished till 1802.

His body was afterwards translated to Triers on the day which is now devoted to his memory. St Maximinus, by protecting and harbouring Saints, received himself the recompense of a Saint.