Today's saintAll livesApril saints
MM

Devotional card

St. Maximus the Merchant

Saint-specific image not yet available.

This devotional card is shown because a saint-specific image is not yet available.

Saints and feasts

St. Maximus the Merchant

Martyr

Maximus the Merchant was a Christian layman in Asia Minor who refused an order to sacrifice to idols. The Roman commemoration is April 30, distinct from the May 14 death reported in his acts.

Sources

The life below remains the existing Butler-based reading, with its edition citation. The profile preserves the feast date and source title already listed in the library. Additional personal dates and historical details are shown only when separately documented.

Butler sourceAlban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume IV, Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1843; April 30, “St. Maximus, Martyr,” pp. 388-389.

The reading

ⓘ Butler source

Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume IV, Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1843; April 30, “St. Maximus, Martyr,” pp. 388-389.

Maximus lived by trade in Asia Minor. During the persecution of Decius he openly declared himself a Christian and was brought before the proconsul Optimus. Asked about his condition, he explained that he was a free man who belonged to Jesus Christ.

The surviving account presents a repeated choice between sacrifice to the pagan gods and fidelity to the Gospel. Threats and torture did not persuade Maximus to comply. He placed his hope in Christ and spoke of the encouragement he received through the prayers and example of earlier martyrs.

The proconsul sentenced him to be stoned outside the city. Butler distinguishes the May 14 death recorded in the acts from the April 30 commemoration in the Roman Martyrology. This merchant martyr is distinct from Maximus of Riez and from the Maximus associated with Tiburtius and Valerian.

Historical note

An original Novena Regina reading adapted and summarized from the cited pre-1962 Butler edition. This is not a transcription of Butler’s words.

Carry this reading into prayer

Act of Charity

Ask God for love of Him and your neighbor, and carry this reading into your own life.

Pray now →

Keep reading

Nearby saint lives

Move through the calendar without leaving the saint library. These nearby feast-day lives help keep the reading trail connected.

Previous feast

St. Catherine of Siena

April 30

Next feast

St. Sigismund of Burgundy

May 1

Browse April saintsBrowse all saint livesGo to today's feast
More prayers, novenas and litanies

More devotions

Continue in prayer

Choose a connected devotion or a clearly labeled general prayer.

Choose a novena

Find a novena for your intention

Browse existing novenas by the need you want to bring to prayer.

Choose a novena

Pray with all the saints

Litaniae Sanctorum

Invoke the communion of saints with the traditional Latin Litany of the Saints.

Pray the Latin litany

Keep learning

What is prayer?

Read question 1099 and its complete answer in the Baltimore Catechism.

Read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5