Maximus of Turin

4th/5th century Christian bishop, theologian, and saint

Maximus of Turin (; c. 380 – c. 465) was a Roman Christian prelate known as the first Bishop of Turin. He was a theological writer who "made a great contribution to the spread and consolidation of Christianity in Northern Italy".

Maximus is believed to have been a native of Rhaetia (modern day Northern Italy). He was a disciple of Ambrose of Milan and Eusebius of Vercelli. Gennadius of Massilia described Maximus as a profound student of scripture and a learned preacher. Maximus mentions in a sermon that in 397 he witnessed, at Anaunia in the Rhaetian Alps, the martyrdom of Sisinnius, Martyrius, and Alexander, three missionary bishops, whom Ambrose had sent to assist Vigilius at Trento. In 398 he was bishop of Turin, then a suffragan see of Milan. During his tenure, Turin was threatened with barbarian incursions; the city was filled with soldiers and refugees seeking safety behind its walls. He chided the landowners, who had fine houses in the city and estates in the country, for hiding their wealth away rather than using it to relieve the suffering of those in need. He reprimanded those who would seek to profit from the unrest and invited them instead to use their resources to redeem prisoners of war. Given the particular historical circumstances at that time, Bishop Maximus saw his role as guardian of the city. According to Patrick Francis Moran, Maximus consecrated Saint Patrick as bishop on Patrick's return journey from Rome en route to Ireland.

His name is in the Roman Martyrology on 25 June: "In Turin, Saint Maximus, the first bishop of this See, who with his fatherly word called crowds of pagans to the faith of Christ and guided them with heavenly doctrine to the prize of salvation." His writings illustrate the customs and living conditions of the Lombard population at the time of the Gothic invasions; one homily contains the description of the destruction of Milan by Attila. Maximus authored numerous discourses, first edited by Bruno Bruni, and published in 1784. These consist of one hundred and eighteen homilies, one hundred and sixteen sermons, and six treatises (tractatus). Many writings, however, which Bruni ascribes to Maximus are of doubtful origin. An edition was published in the collection Corpus Christianorum Series Latina by Almut Mutzenbecher (n° XXIII, Turnhout 1962) which has accurately identified the corpus to be attributed to Maximus I of Turin. An appendix contains writings of uncertain authorship: thirty one sermons, three homilies, and two long epistles addressed to a sick friend. The discourses are usually very brief, and couched in forcible, though at times over flowery language. Among the many facts of liturgy and history touched on in the discourses are: abstinence during Lent (hom. 44), no fasting or kneeling at prayers during paschal time (hom. 61), fasting on the Vigil of Pentecost (hom. 62), the synod of Milan in 389 at which Jovinianus was condemned (hom. 9), the impending barbarian invasion (hom. 86–92), the destruction of the Church of Milan by the barbarians (hom. 94), various pagan superstitions still prevalent at his time (hom. 16, 100–02), and the supremacy of St. Peter (hom. 54, 70, 72, serm. 114).

Sermons of St. Maximus of Turin, translated and annotated by Boniface Ramsey, OP, 1989 (Ancient Christian Writers, 50)