Telemachus (martyr)

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Telemachus in the stadium (Foxe's Book of Martyrs, 1563)

Saint Telemachus (also Almachus or Almachius ) was a monk who, according to a report by the church historian Theodoret, interrupted a gladiator fight in an amphitheater and was then stoned by the crowd. The Christian Emperor Flavius ​​Honorius was so impressed by the martyrdom of the monk that he pronounced a ban on gladiator fights.

Frederick George Holweck (1865–1927) incorrectly gives the year of his death as 391 - at that time Honorius was only 7 years old. The last known gladiatorial match in Rome took place on January 1st, 404.

background

Theodoret describes Telemachus as a monk who had come to Rome from the east (the Roman Empire). After watching the gladiator fight in the amphitheater, he went down to the arena, where he tried to separate the gladiators. The bloodthirsty audience was irritated by the interruption and stoned him. Thereupon Honorius banned gladiator fights.

Later retellings of the story differ from Theodoret in a number of ways. The Colosseum in Rome is often mentioned as the place of the event, but Theodoret does not specify where it happened, only speaks of an "amphitheater". In Foxe's Book of Martyrs it is reported that Telemachus was first stabbed to death by a gladiator, but that the sight of his death "transformed the hearts of men." In another form of the story, Telemachus rises in the amphitheater and calls for the audience to stop worshiping idols and making sacrifices to the gods. When the prefect of the city heard this, he ordered the gladiators to kill Telemachus.

Telemachus in the stadium (anonymous, Netherlands 1869)

swell

  • Theodoret: Church history in five books. From AD 332 until the death of Theodor von Mopsuestias AD 427 , chap. XXVI. Emperor Honorius and the monk Telemachus
  • John Foxe : Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church . 1563 (commonly called Foxe's Book of Martyrs) online
  • Frederick George Holweck: A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints . St. Louis 1924, p. 51
  • Alban Butler (founder), Paul Burns (ed.): Butler's Lives of the Saints . New edition 1995
  • Johann Evangelist Stadler : Complete Lexicon of Saints or Life History of All Saints . Olms, Hildesheim 1975. ISBN 3-487-05601-1 . Inside: Telemachus .
  • Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints . In it: Telemachus (accessed online on September 27, 2018)

Web links

Commons : Telemachus (Martyrs)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ His elevation with co-emperor took place in Constantinople in 393, in 394 he was brought to Milan by his father, and the following year he was emperor of the western half of the empire.
  2. ↑ See also Stadler's dictionary of saints
  3. ^ Butler's Lives of the Saints
  4. ↑ Reprint d. Edition Augsburg 1882.
personal data
SURNAME Telemachus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Telemachos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Monk and martyr
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: 404
Place of death uncertain: Rome