[3] According to one version of the detailed legend that developed later, Tarcisius was a young boy during one of the fierce 3rd-century Roman persecutions, probably during the reign of Emperor Valerian (253–259).

[5] The relics are currently located in the Chapel of the Guardian Angel in the Church of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples, having been transferred there in 1646.

[6] His story was greatly expanded by Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman, who portrays him as a young acolyte in his novel Fabiola, or the Church in the Catacombs.

[4] The municipality of Saint-Tharcisius in Quebec, Canada, is named after him,[7] as well as a 35 kilogram (77 lb) bell in the Stephansdom in Vienna, Austria.

The last four lines can be translated as: When an insane gang pressed saintly Tarcisius, who was carrying the sacraments of Christ, to display them to the profane, he preferred to be killed and give up his life rather than betray to rabid dogs the heavenly body.