ST MAXIMUS II. OF PAVIA, BISHOP - 8 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 8th of January

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST MAXIMUS II. OF PAVIA, BISHOP 

Saint Maximus II, Successor of St Epiphanius, lived at the beginning of the sixth century. In 504 he attended a synod held in Rome and co-signed its resolutions.

HE HAD BEEN A SECULAR CIVIL SERVANT

Before entering the ministry, he had been a secular civil servant for a while, when he had the opportunity to prepare for the leadership of the ecclesiastical rudder. 

A TALENTED CLERIC

Even as a priest he had developed a reputation and an efficacy which is otherwise only possessed by bishops (adscitus Ecclesiae Pontificem actibus implevisti ante tempora dignitatis wrote to him by his successor Ennodius), so that the episcopate was just quite natural to follow for this talented saint.

HIS NAME IS IN THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY

Apart from this more general information, nothing much else has been handed down to us. According to Ughellus (Ital. Sacra, I. 1080) he died on January 8, 511 and was buried with St John in Borgo. His name is  also in the Roman Martyrology on the above day.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)