Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/August 15 2007

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

St. Tarcisius (or Tarsicius) (Italian and Spanish: San Tarsicio or Tarcisio) was a martyr of the early Christian church who lived in the 3rd century. The little that is known about him comes from a metrical inscription by Pope Damasus I, who was pope at least a century later. He preferred death at the hands of a mob rather than deliver to them the Blessed Sacrament, which he was carrying. As Damasus compares him to St. Stephen, who was stoned to death, this may have been the manner of his end. His story was greatly expanded by Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman, who portrays him as a young acolyte in his novel Fabiola, or the Church in the Catacombs (pub. Burns and Oates, London, undated but circa 1836).

His relics rest in the San Silvestro in Capite church in Rome. His feast day is celebrated on 15 August, but, since that day is occupied by the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, he is not mentioned in the General Roman Calendar, but only in the Roman Martyrology.

Attrbutes:
Patronage: altar servers and first communicants.
Prayer: