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Martyr. 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. He may have been a deacon, as Damasus compares him to Stephen. 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.
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