MAXIMILIAN OF LORCH, Saint, Martyr. - The Passio of M. is not earlier than the 13th century (BHL, 5811).

About St. M. all that is positively known is that around the year 700, in the time of St. Rupert of Salzburg, his body was found in the region of Pongau and a cella was built on the spot (a word that the hagiographers later confused with the city of Celeia or Cilli in Lower Styria) for monks, with an oratory. Around 878 Carloman had the relics of M. transferred to Ötting, in Bavaria, and these, before 985, were then brought to the cathedral of Passau. In 1289 there was in Passau a new elevation of the relics of M. together with those of the regional bishop St. Valentine. Whether 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.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: F. Poxrucker, Der heilig Maximilian, Landshut 1925 (see review by H. Delehaye, in Anal. Bull., 45 [1927], pp. 150-151); E. Tomek, Kirchengeschichte Österreichs, I, Innsbruck 1935, pp. 28-30; Martyr. Roman., pp. 450, 483.

Giuseppe Löw

MASSIMILIANO d'Asburgo, archduke of Austria, emperor of Mexico. - B. at Schönbrunn on 6 July 1832, d. at Queretaro (Mexico) on 19 June 1867. Younger brother of the emperor Francis Joseph, he became in 1857 governor-general of Lombardy-Venetia, a post in which he let slip no occasion to make foreign rule acceptable to those populations. In 1864 he accepted the Mexican imperial crown and, with the help of Napoleon III, established himself in Mexico City.

The supporters of Mexican independence, having gone over to the offensive 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 subsequently reconquered the country and, having taken M. prisoner, shot him at Queretaro, together with his loyal generals Miramon and Mejia. Among the remote causes of the tragedy of Queretaro must be counted certain errors committed out of weakness by the unfortunate Emperor in his policy toward the Holy See and the Mexican hierarchy.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: E. Corti, La tragedia di un imperatore, Milano 1936. On ecclesiastical policy cf. P. Balan, Continuazione alla storia universale della Chiesa del Rohrbacher, II, Torino 1879, see indexes; N. A. N. Cleven, The ecclesiastical policy of Maximilian of Mexico, in Hispanic-american historical review, 9 (1929), pp. 317-60; J. Schmidlin, Papstgeschichte der neuesten Zeit, II, Monaco 1934, pp. 152-53.

Silvio Purlani

@incollection{ec8_massimiliano_di_lorch_santo_ma, author = {Furlani, Silvio and Lów, Giuseppe}, title = {Massimiliano di Lorch, santo, martire}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {301}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/massimiliano-di-lorch-santo-martire} }

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Maximilian of Lorch, Saint, Martyr

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