14/08/2026
๐ฆ๐๐๐ก๐ง ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐๐ง๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ง
At Rome, on the Appian Way, ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ ๐ง๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐, acolyte. The pagans accosted him as he was carrying the Sacrament of Christ's Body, and began to inquire what it was. But he judged it an unworthy thing to cast pearls before swine. They therefore beat him with sticks and stones until he expired. The sacrilegious searchers examined his body, but found no vestige of the Sacrament of Christ, either in his hands or in his clothes. The Christians took up the body of the martyr, and buried it reverently in the cemetery of Callistus. (Roman Martyrology)
The only positive information concerning this Roman martyr is found in the poem composed in his honour by Pope Damasus ("Damasi epigrammata", ed. Ihm, 14). In these lines Damasus compares Tarsicius to the protomartyr Stephen: just as the latter was stoned by the people of Judea so Tarsicius, carrying the Blessed Sacrament, was attacked by a heathen rabble, and he suffered death rather "than surrender the Sacred Body [of Christ] to the raging dogs". This tradition so positively asserted by Damasus is undoubtedly historical. Nothing definite is known concerning the personality of this martyr of the Eucharist. ๐๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป, ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐ต๐ถ๐บ ๐๐ผ ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ต๐ฒ๐ป. An addition to the sixth-century legend of the martyrdom of Pope St. Stephen makes Tarsicius, for some unknown reason, an acolyte; this addition, however, is based on the poem of Damasus. It is evident that the death of this martyr occurred in one of the persecutions that took place between the middle of the third century and the beginning of the fourth. He was buried in the Catacomb of St. Callistus, and the inscription by Damasus was placed later on his tomb. In the seventh century his remains rested in the same grave as those of Pope Zephyrinus; according to Willpert they lay in the burial vault above ground (cella trichora) which was situated towards the west over the Catacomb of St. Callistus. The feast of the saint is observed on 15 August. (The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912)
