THEONESTUS, TABRA, and TABRATHA, saints and martyrs. — The information concerning them is uncertain and obscure.
The Roman Martyrology, following a late recension of the *Passio*, commemorates them on 30 October and states that they died at Altino in the 5th century, victims of the Arians. According to the older *Passio*, however, they were killed on 22 November by pagans during the reign of Emperor Theodosius I. Neither of these accounts has any historical foundation, since no ancient and reliable document mentions a Theonestus as bishop of Altino. It is likely that they refer to Theonestus, a martyr of Vercelli, over whose tomb St. Eusebius built a church in which he himself was later buried, though nothing further is known of him. He was venerated in various cities of northern Italy, especially at Altino, where the possible presence of relics led to the belief that his entire body was there and that he had therefore been a bishop. Of the two companions of Theonestus, no other information is known beyond what is reported in the *Passio*; it is not excluded, however, that they may be two Gothic martyrs who perished in Thrace in the 5th century and were arbitrarily associated with Theonestus by later compilers.
According to the *Passio*, composed in the 9th century, Theonestus was bishop of Philippi; together with the co-bishop Albanus, the deacons Tabra and Tabratha, and the cleric Ursus, he went on pilgrimage to Rome to visit the tombs of the Apostles. From there he went to Milan, where he was received by St. Ambrose, who presented him to Emperor Theodosius I. He then traveled to Gaul, where Ursus was killed by pagans at Augusta, while Albanus perished at Mainz. Theonestus, with the two survivors, was placed in a boat that landed at Altino, where, while preaching, they were captured and beheaded.