Amongst his siblings was the last Saxon king Frederick Augustus III and Princess Maria Josepha mother of the last Austrian Emperor Charles I.

On 26 July 1896, despite initial opposition from his family, Prince Maximilian decided to study for the priesthood and was subsequently ordained a Catholic priest.

[4] After working as a pastor at a church in Nuremberg, on 21 August 1900 Prince Maximilian accepted the post of Professor of Canon Law at the University of Fribourg.

[5][6] In late 1910 Prince Maximilian caused controversy by publishing an article in an ecclesiastical periodical on the union of the Eastern and Roman churches.

[8][9] During the First World War Prince Maximilian served as an Army chaplain and in this capacity he attended to wounded soldiers, gave unction to the dying and said mass while under shell fire.