Andronicus, Probus, and Tarachus

Who is Andronicus, Probus, and Tarachus?

Saints Andronicus, Probus, and Tarachus were martyrs of the Diocletian persecution. The Martyrologium Hieronymianum contains the names of these three martyrs on four different days, with the topographical identification: In Tarso Cilicie, on September 27, to which corresponds the expression, In Cilicia, given on the two days of 5 April, and 8–11 October. The expression, In Palestina, given under 13 May, is either an error or refers to a special shrine of the martyrs in Palestine.

There are two accounts of their martyrdom, the first account being held by Thierry Ruinart to be entirely authentic. According to these Acts, Tarachus, a Roman who was a native of Claudiopolis in Isauria and a former soldier, the plebeian Probus of Side in Pamphylia, and the patrician Andronicus, who belonged to a prominent family of Ephesus, were tried by the governor Numerian Maximus and horribly tortured three times in various cities, including Tarsus, Mopsuestia, and Anazarbus of Cilicia.