Saint of the Day – 8 June – St Maximinus of Aix (1st Century) Bishop, one of Christ’s seventy-two disciples and possibly, “the man who had been blind from birth.”

Saint of the Day – 8 June – St Maximinus of Aix (1st Century) The first Bishop of Aix-en-Provence, in southern France. Maximinu reportedly one of Christ’s seventy-two disciples and a companion of Sts Mary Magdalen, Mary Cleopas, Martha and Lazarus. In one account, Maximinus is called “the man who had been blind from birth.” Patronage – the Diocese of Aix-en-Provenc. Also known as – “the man who had been blind from birth, Maximin, Massimino.

The Roman Martyrology reads: “In Aix-en-Provence in France, Saint Maximinus, who is believed to have been a disciple of Our Lord and to whom the beginnings of Christianity in this City are attributed.”

According to the Christian tradition, the first Church on the site of Aix Cathedral, was founded by Saint Maximinus of Aix, who arrived in Provence from Bethany, a village near Jerusalem, with Mary Magdalene on a boat belonging to Lazarus. Maximinus built a modest Chapel on the site of the present Cathedral and dedicated it to the Holy Saviour.

Mary Magdalene later left him to continue his apostolate alone when she withdrew to the solitude of a cave, which later became a renowned pilgrimage site – Sainte-Baume. On the day she knew she was to die she descended into the plain so that Maximinus could give her Holy Communion and arrange her burial. Her sarcophagus is now at the Basilica of St Mary Magdalene at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, along with that of Saints Sidonius, Marcelle, Suzanne and Maximinus himself, after whom the town was subsequently named.

Maximinus died on 8 June, now the day of his feast. In the 3rd or 4th century his remains were placed in a sarcophagus.

Saint Sidoine succeeded him as the Bishop of Aix.