St. Tarcisius of Rome Roundel (BF 004)

Variously identified as a layman, a deacon, or—most often--a young acolyte (accounts vary), St. Tarcisius of Rome (mid 3rd century) is venerated for his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. + According to tradition, during the Valerian persecutions, the young St. Tarcisius volunteered to take Holy Communion to imprisoned Christians. Being just a boy, his elders believed no one in authority would expect him to be such a courier. On his way to the prison, however, St. Tarcisius was set upon by a pagan mob or gang of ruffian boys and stoned or beaten to death for refusing to surrender the hosts he was carrying. + Here, a pre-teen St. Tarcisius, clad in a white tunic and pink mantle, is depicted bruised and broken and lying on a step at the base of a column. He has been stoned. Clotted blood mats his hair; stones lay on the ground in front of him. Eyes closed, his head lolls to the left. He is clearly dying. Nevertheless, he tightly clutches the Eucharist, indicated by a white glow, to his chest. On the column, a graffito of four letters is scrawled in red (blood?): SPQR, an abbreviation for the phrase Senatus Populusque Romanus, that is (idiomatically translated), The Senate and People of Rome. The scene is enclosed in a thin round frame ornamented with gold bosses and turquoise lozenges. We have provided a background that resembles a highly polished granite surface in yellows, oranges, and reds. + St. Tarcisius is patron saint of First Communicants—especially boys making their First Holy Communion, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion (EMHCs), and altar servers. + Interest in this saint was rekindled and popularised in the 19th century with the publication of Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman’s internationally best-selling novel ‘Fabiola: A Tale of the Church of the Catacombs' (1854). See especially: Chapter XXII (The Viaticum). + Feast: August 15 + Image Credit (BF 004): Antique image of St. Tarcisius entitled Hostia pro Hostia [Host for The Host] with Spanish text, from an early 20th-century die-cut devotional print on ‘canvas’ or ‘linen’ paper (No. 5328), originally published by Boumard et Fils, Paris, France, from the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera.