Saint Tarcisius

Life story

Nearly everything certain about Tarcisius comes from a short poem by Pope Damasus I (366-384), carved on his tomb. Damasus compares him to Stephen, the first martyr: as Stephen was stoned, Tarcisius was attacked by a crowd while carrying the Blessed Sacrament and beaten to death rather than surrender it. The Catholic Encyclopedia renders the verse as saying that the young man preferred to yield up his life rather than betray the heavenly members to raging dogs.

Beyond that, little is definite. Because Damasus compares him to Stephen, it has been suggested that he was a deacon. A sixth-century addition to the legend of Pope Stephen calls him an acolyte. The later legend makes him a boy carrying the Eucharist to imprisoned Christians; the persecution is placed somewhere between the middle of the third century and the early fourth. Cardinal Wiseman's novel Fabiola spread the story further.

Tarcisius was buried in the Catacomb of Callixtus; the poem of Damasus was placed on his tomb later. In the seventh century his remains lay in the same grave as Pope Zephyrinus, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. His feast is 15 August.

Works and witness

• Beaten to death while carrying the Eucharist, per the poem of Pope Damasus
• Buried in the Catacomb of Callixtus in Rome
• The details of a boy acolyte and of a specific persecution belong to later legend
• Feast on 15 August in the Roman Martyrology

Patron of

Altar servers, First communicants

Saints from the same country

Saint Agnes, Saint Lawrence, Saint Cecilia, Saint Sebastian

References

• Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent), 'St. Tarsicius'
• Pope Damasus I, epigram on Tarcisius, as cited in the Catholic Encyclopedia

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.