Onesimus

ONESIMUS. - A fugitive slave, probably Phrygian and from Colossae (Col. 4:9), on whose behalf St. Paul wrote the Epistle to Philemon (v.). The name of O. (=Useful) was very common among slaves, almost as if to state the reason for their existence. Converted, he was the bearer of the letter to Philemon. Paul presents him, with pride, to the community of Colossae as "a faithful and beloved brother" (Col. 4:9), and in sending him to Philemon he assures the latter that O., won for Christ and become a brother, will not be the useless (Philem. 16) and, perhaps, the thief (ibid., 19) he was before, but will do honor to his own name.

From the New Testament nothing else is known of him. An O. was bishop of Ephesus when St. Ignatius the martyr wrote to this community (Ad Ephes. 1, 3). Indeed the martyrologies say that the slave converted by Paul succeeded Timothy in that see (Acta SS. Februarii, II, Antwerp 1658, pp. 856 ff.); but the name was too common for one to conclude to the identity of the person. The Constitutiones Apostol. (7, 46: PC 1, 1056) say, instead, that he was appointed by Paul himself bishop of Beroea in Macedonia. According to other sources, he would have preached in Spain. No more in agreement are the accounts concerning the place (Rome? Pozzuoli?), the time (under Nero? Domitian?) and the kind of martyrdom. O. personifies that social category to which only Christianity has given freedom and dignity. The Latin Church commemorates him on Feb. 16, the Greek Church on the 15th.

Teodorico da Castel S. Pietro