Saint Telemachus
| Saint Telemachus | |
|---|---|
 The Martyrdom of Saint Telemachus |
|
| Hermit and Martyr | |
| Born | unknown Eastern Roman Empire |
| Died | 1 January 404 (or 391[1]) Rome, Italy |
| Feast | 1 January |
Saint Telemachus (also Almachus[1] or Tilemahos[citation needed]) was a monk who, according to the Church historian Theodoret,[2] tried to stop a gladiator fight in a Roman amphitheatre, and was stoned to death by the crowd. The Christian Emperor Honorius, however, was impressed by the monk's martyrdom and it spurred him to issue an historic ban on gladiator fights. The last known gladiator fight in Rome was on January 1, 404 AD, so this is usually given as the date of Telemachus' martyrdom.
He is described as being an ascetic who came to Rome from the East. The story is found in the writings of Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria.
Although the site of Telemachus' martyrdom is often given as being the Colosseum in Rome, Theodoret does not actually specify where it happened, saying merely that it happened in "the stadium".
Later retellings of the story have differed from Theodoret's in a number of details. Foxe's Book of Martyrs claims that Telemachus was first stabbed to death by a gladiator, but that the sight of his death "turned the hearts of the people".[3] In the version of the story told by Ronald Reagan in 1984, the entire crowd left in silence.[4]
There is also an alternate form of the story, in which Telemachus stood up in the amphitheatre and told the assembly to stop worshiping idols and offering sacrifices to the gods. Upon hearing this statement, the prefect of the city is said by this source to have ordered the gladiators to kill Telemachus, and they promptly did so.[5]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Jones, Terry. "Telemachus". Patron Saints Index. http://saints.sqpn.com/saintt23.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
- ^ Theodoret (1843). Honorius the Emperor, and the Monk Telemachus. London, UK: Samuel Bagster and Sons. pp. 326–327. http://books.google.com/books?dq=Theodoret++%22Ecclesiastical+History%22&pg=PP1&id=q_54qEMqFVsC#PPA326,M1. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
- ^ Fox, John; Edited by William Byron Forbush. "The Last Roman "Triumph"". Fox's Book of Martyrs. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/foxe/martyrs/files/fox103.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
- ^ Reagan, Ronald (1984-02-02). "Remarks at the Annual National Prayer Breakfast". Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/20284a.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
- ^ Burns, Paul. Butler's Lives of the Saints:New Full Edition. Collegeville, MN:The Liturgical Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8146-2377-8.
