MASSIMILIANO di LORCH, saint, martyr. – The Passio of M. is not earlier than the 13th century (BHL, 5811).
Concerning St. M., the only positive information is that around 700, at the time of St. Rupert of Salzburg, his body was discovered in the region of Pongau, and a cell was built on the site (a word which the hagiographers later confused with the city of Celeia or Cilli in Lower Styria) for monks, together with an oratory. Around 878, Carlomanno had M.’s relics transferred to Ötting, in Bavaria; before 985, they were then taken to the cathedral of Passau. In 1289, a new elevation of M.’s relics took place in Passau, together with those of the regional bishop St. Valentino. That M. was bishop of Lorch is not known; the episcopal character was attributed to him in the 11th and 12th centuries, when the bishops of Passau claimed for themselves the title and prerogatives of archbishop, as successors of the archbishop of Lorch. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on 12 October, the date of his death.
MASSIMILIANO d'Asburgo, archduke of Austria, emperor of Mexico. – Born at Schönbrunn on 6 July 1832, died at Queretaro (Mexico) on 19 June 1867. Younger brother of Emperor Francesco Giuseppe, in 1857 he became governor-general of Lombardo-Veneto, a position in which he neglected no opportunity to make foreign rule acceptable to those populations. In 1864 he accepted the imperial crown of Mexico and, with the assistance of Napoleone III, established himself in Mexico City.
The supporters of Mexican independence, having risen again under the leadership of B. Juarez and with the support of the United States, which had emerged from the crisis of the Civil War, nevertheless gradually reconquered the country and, having taken M. prisoner, shot him at Queretaro, together with his loyal generals Miramon and Mejia. Among the distant causes of the tragedy of Queretaro must be counted certain errors committed through weakness by the unfortunate Emperor in his policy toward the Holy See and the Mexican hierarchy.