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A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.

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May 5 · Bishop

St. Maximus of Jerusalem

St. Maximus of Jerusalem

A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.

Traditional feast

May 5
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Bishop

Early life

The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 0 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Learn from the kind of life it was. A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.

Keep their day. Remember them on May 5 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 0 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology. Authorities: — Sozomen, Theodoret, and mention by S. Jerome.] |AXIMUS, bishop of Jerusalem, suffered in the persecution of Maximian. One of his eyes was plucked out, and a leg was lamed by the application of red hot irons to the sinews. In the troubles that broke out in the East, consequent to the broaching of heresy by Arius, Maximus was unfortunately inveigled by the partisans of Eusebius of Caesarea and Eusebius of Nicomedia into signing the condemnation of S. Athanasius; but directly he discovered the rights of the case, he repented and refused to attend the Arian synods, and in the council held at Jerusalem in 349 was the first to sign the recognition of S. Athanasius.

Feast days

Feast: May 5

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Maximus of Jerusalem's story, and a nudge to keep going.

Also on May 5
St. Hilary of Arles

St. Hilary of Arles

May 5 · Bishop
St. Maurontius

St. Maurontius

May 5 · Abbot
St. Pius, Pope

St. Pius

May 5 · Virgin
← All 1727 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Sources

Credits

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.