Sunday, January 17, 2010

From Naples: Tomb of San Tarcisio (St. Tarsicius) Protomartyr of the Eucharist


Dominicans have care of this famous Naples church, San Domenico Maggiore. 

Would be nice to see this altar dressed again with candles and linens.  Would be nice to see Holy Mass again celebrated here.  This chapel is protected by a locked gate.  There is no reason why a consecrated altar should not be dressed. 

Romans still have great devotion to this saint.  His feast is celebrated August 15.  Here's the bit from the Roman Martyrology:

"At Rome, on the Appian Way, St. Tarsicius, acolyte. The pagans accosted him as he was carrying the Sacrament of Christ's Body, and began to inquire what it was. But he judged it an unworthy thing to cast pearls before swine. They therefore beat him with sticks and stones until he expired. The sacrilegious searchers examined his body, but found no vestige of the Sacrament of Christ, either in his hands or in his clothes. The Christians took up the body of the martyr, and buried it reverently in the cemetery of Callistus."


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