SS. TARACHUS, PROBUS, AND ANDRONICUS, MARTYRS - 11 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER

Saints celebrated on the 11th of October

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

SS. TARACHUS, PROBUS, AND ANDRONICUS, MARTYRS 

They were martyrs of the Diocletian persecution (about 304). The "Martyrologium Hieronymian" contains the names of these three martyrs on four different days (the four days October 8-11 evidently signify no more than the date on a single day), with the topographical identification: "In Tarso Cilicie", on September 27, to which corresponds the expression, "In Cilicia", given on the two days of April 5, and October 8-11. The expression, "In Palestina", given under May 13 is either an error or refers to a special shrine of the martyrs in Palestine.

There are two accounts of the glorious martyrdom of these three witnesses by blood, the first account being held by Ruinart to be entirely authentic. According to these Acts, Tarachus, a native of Cladiopolis in Isauria, Probus of Side in Pamphylia, and Andronicus, who belonged to a prominent family of Ephesus, were tried and horribly tortured three times in various cities at Tarsus, and at Anazarbus of Cilicia. 

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. Harnack, however, expressed doubts as to the genuineness of the account, and Delehaye puts the martyrdom in the class of legends of martyrs that he calls "historical romances". At the same time, however, there can be no doubt as to the actual existence of the three martyrs. Their feast is celebrated in the Latin Church on October 11, and in the Greek Church on October 12.

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)