ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST Saints celebrated on the 15th of August WELCOME! SAINT TARCISIUS, MARTYR The only positive information concerning this Roman martyr is found in the poem composed in his honour by Pope Damasus. 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. MARTYR OF THE EUCHARIST 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. HE WAS BURIED IN THE CATACOMB...