MASSIMO, bishop of GERUSALEMME, saint. — He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 9 May. During the persecution of Maximinus Daia, he was condemned to the mines after having had his right eye torn out and his left foot mutilated. Shortly before 335, he succeeded Macarius in the see of Jerusalem. Sozomen states that he had already been designated for the see of Diospolis, but his fellow citizens would not allow him to leave.
He took part in the Council of Tyre (335), but did not subscribe to the condemnation of St. Athanasius because St. Paphnutius managed to get him out before the subscription. He refused to participate in the Council of Antioch in 341 in protest against the Arians, by whom he had been deceived at the Synod of Jerusalem in 335; and in 349 he welcomed St. Athanasius, returning from exile, with great joy. To pay him greater honours, he convened a synod of Palestinian bishops, who also wrote a letter of good wishes and congratulations to the Church of Alexandria on the return of their bishop. For this adherence and friendship with St. Athanasius, he was hated by the Eusebian Arians. He died around 350.