Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/October 11 2007

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Saints Andronicus, Probus (Provos), and Tarachus (Tharacus, Tarachos) were martyrs of the Diocletian persecution (about 304 AD).

There are two accounts of their martyrdom, the first account being held by Thierry Ruinart (Acta Martyrum, ed. Ratisbon, 448 sq.) to be entirely authentic. According to these Acts, Tarachus (ca. 239- 304), a Roman who was a native of Claudiopolis in Isauria and a former soldier, the plebeian Probus of Side in Pamphylia, and the patrician Andronicus, who belonged to a prominent family of Ephesus, were tried by the governor Numerian Maximus and horribly tortured three times in various cities, including Tarsus, Mopsuestia, and Anazarbus of Cilicia.

According to tradition, Tarachus was beaten on his cheeks and neck with stones. His hands were also burned. He was hanged on a post and smoke was put underneath him to choke him; vinegar was forced down his nostrils; after enduring further tortures, he was carved to pieces. Probus was thrashed with whips, his feet were burned with red hot irons, his back and sides were pierced with heated spits; finally he also was cut up with knives. Andronicus was also cut to pieces with knives.

They were then condemned to death by wild beasts, and when the animals would not touch them in the amphitheatre they were put to death with the sword.

Attributes: Tarachus is depicted as an elderly man, in the robes of a Roman citizen, with a spear. The others are depicted with crosses or spears.
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