Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/98

 MAXFIELD

74

MAXIMIANUS

tins, npgotiiitrd with t'onsfaiUino to wliom he gave his daughter Fausta as lirido. Meanwhile (ialerius with his lllyriaii legions pushed forwanl to the iieighhoui- hood of Koine, but finding that he was unable to oc- cupy it or any of the fortified places, he withdrew his forces. At liis suggestion a conference of all the CiPsars took place at Carnuntuni on the Danulx> (1507) in which the prestige of Diocletian had great influence. Maxentius retained his imperial dignity. Though it is true that soon after this he put an end to the jier.secu- tion of the Christians in Italy and Africa, his reign was stained with acts of debaucliery and cruelty.

After his father's death, Maxentius and Maximin, Emperor of the East, fearing the political alliance of Constantine and Licinius, came to an understanding unfriendly to Constantine. Maxentius made exten- sive military preparations, and destroyed the statues and paintings of Constantine. Constantine advanced ovr what is now Mont Cenis with a comparatively small but well-drilled army and, victorious in several battles, occupied Upper Italy; he then marched against Home, where his opponent, strongly en- trenched behind the Tiber and the walls of Aurelius, hoped to resist him successfully. Thoughtlessly and shortsightedly, Maxentius, abandoning this ex- cellent position, made a bridge of boats across the Tiber (near the Milvian Bridge now Ponte Molle), and awaited the troops of Constantine on the right bank of the river. It was then that occurretl the miracle re- lated by Eusebius (Vita Constant. I, 28-.30), that when Constantine implored supernatural aid. a fiery cross appeared over the sun with the legend : toi/tv viKo. (conquer with this). Further, he had l)een advised by Christ, in a dream the previous night, to go into battle armed with this sign. Maxentius's soldiers were thrown into confusion by the impetuosity of the Gallic hor.semen, and in the efforts of the retreating masses to escape over the narrow bridge, many were throwni into the river and drowned, among them Maxentius (28 Octoljer, 312). His son and counsel- lors were put to death, but his ofBcials and depen- dents retained their positions.

Schiller, Gesch. d. rnmischen Kaiserzeit, II (Gotha, 1887); DE Waal, Roma Sacra (Munich, 1905).

K.\nL HOEBER.

Maxfield (rere Macclesfield), Thomas, Vener- able, English priest and martyr, b. in Stafford gaol, about l.'jOO, martyred at Tyburn, London, Monday, 1 July, 1616. He was one of the younger sons of William Macclesfield of Chesterton and Maer and As- ton, Staffordshire (a firm recusant, condemned to death in 1587 for harbouring priests, one of whom was his brother Humphrey), and Ursula, daughter of Francis Roos, of Laxton, Nottinghamshire. William Macclesfield is said to have died in prison and is one of the pnelcnnissi as William Maxfield ; but, as his death occurred in 1608, this is doubtful. Thomas arrived at the English College at Douai on 16 March, 1602-3, but had to return to England 17 May, 1610, owing to ill health. In 1614 he went back to Douai, was or- dained priest, and in the next year came to London. Within three months of landing he was arrested, and sent to the Gatehouse, Westminster. After about eight months' imprisonment, he tried to escape by a rope let down from the window in his cell, but was captured on reaching the ground. This was at mid- night 14-1.5 June, 1616. For .seventy hours he was placed in the stock-s in a filthy dungeon at the Gate- house, and was then on Monday night (17 June) re- moved to Newgate, where he was set amongst the worst criminals, two of whom he converted. On Wednesday, 26 June, he was brought to the bar at the Old Bailey, and the next day was condemned solely for being a priest, under 27 Eliz,, c, 2. The Spanish ambassador did his best to obtain a pardon, or at least a reprieve; but, finding his efforts unavailing, had solemn e.xposition of the Blessed Sacrament in his

chapel during the martyr's last night on earth. The procession to Tyburn early on the following morning was joined by many devout Spaniards, who, in spite of insults and mockery, persisted in forming a guard of honour for the martyr. Tyburn -tree it.self was found decorated with garlands, and the ground round about strewn with sweet herbs. The slieriff ordered the martyr to be cut down alive, but popular feeling was too strong, and the disembowelling did not take place till he was quite senseless. Half of his relics are now at Downside Abbey, near Bath.

Life and Mnrti/rdom 0/ Mr. Maxfield, Prieft ISIH, ed. Pollen, in Catholic Record Societu, III, 30-58; Challonek, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, II (Manchester, 1803), 51; Pollard in Diet. Nat. Biog., s. v.; Stanton, Menolotni of Eng* land and Wales (London, 1887), 298; The William Sail ArcluBo- logical Society's Collections for a History of Staffordshire (London, 1882-1909), III. iii; V, ii, 207; new series, V, 128; XII, 248. John B. Wainewkight.

MaximianopoUs, a titular see of Palcstina Secunda, suffragan of Scythopolis. Its ancient name, Adad- Remmon, according to the Vulgate (according to the Hebrew, Hadad-Rimmon) is found in Zach., xii, 11: "... there shall be a great lamentation in Jerusalem like the lamentation of Adadremmon in the plain of Mageddon," an allusion to the death of Josias, King of Jerusalem, killed by the Pharaoh Nechao in the battle fought near this place (IV Kings, xxiii, 29; II Par. XXXV, 20-25). In the time of the so-called "Pilgrim of Bordeaux" (ed. Goyer, 19, 27) and of St. Jerome ("Comment, in Zachar.", ad cap. xii, 11; "Comment, in Oz.", 5), Adad-Remmon already bore the name of Maximianopolis. Three of its ancient bishops are known; Paul, in 325 (Gelzer, " Patrum Nicienorum nomina", Ixi) — not Maximus, as Le Quien gives it in "Oriens Christianus", III, 703; Megas, in 518, and Doranus, in 536 (Le Quien, op. cit., 703-06). Maximi- anopohs has resumed its ancient name of Rimmon, and is now the almost deserted little village of Roum- maneh, nearly four miles to the south of Ledjun, or Mageddo (see Legio).

GuERiN, Description de la Palestine: Samarie (Paris, 1875), II, 228-230; Gelzer, Georgii Cyprii Descriptio orbis romani (Leipzig, 1890), 193-96; Leoendre in Via., Diet, de la Bible, s. V. Adadremmon.

S. Vailhe.

Maximianus, Marcus Aurelius Valerius, sur- named Herculius, Roman Emperor, was adopted by Diocletian and named his co-regent in 285, because by this division of the sovereignty the danger of the war- riors' mutiny, the ambitious efforts of the usurpers, and the attacks of foreign enemies seemed to be pre- vented in the surest way. Diocletian gave him, who had been hitherto his brother-in-arms and was now his fellow regent, the surname Herculius. in remembrance of the help which the mythological Hercules rendered his father Jupiter in the latter's struggle against the giants. Like Diocletian, Maximianus came from Illyria, from the neighbourhood of Sirmium;astheson of a simple peasant, he possessed only very little edu- cation; he was violent and brutal, but was a brave fighter. For this reason, when Diocletian was strug- gling with the Persians in Asia, Maximianus was en- trusted with the leadership of the punitive expedition against the peasants and field slaves (Bagaudans) in Gaul who, driven by economical causes, had risen against Diocletian. The new emperor soon restored peace, and received from Diocletian, in token of the latter's gratitude, the title of Augustus on 1 April, 286. However, only the administration of the empire was divided; the sovereignty remained centralized now as ever, and the will of the emperor-in-chief, Diocletian, was absolute. While Maximianus, having established his head-quarters at Mainz, was successful in the st rug- gles with the Burgundians and the Alamanni, who had crossed the frontier and the Rhine, he found many ob- stacles in repulsing the Menapian pirate chief Carau- sius. Originally commander-in-chief of the Roman