A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(Θαλέλαιος) or THALLELAEUS (Θαλλέλαιος), Saint, a physician, who was horn near Mount Lebanon in Phoenicia of Christian parents, and received his medical education from a physician named Macarius, who had attained the dignity of Archiater. He displayed on all occasions great zeal in favour of Christianity, and acquired considerable reputation by his medical skill, so that some of his cures were said to be miraculously performed. He attended on the heathen with as much care as on Christians, and was particularly charitable towards the poor. During the persecution carried on against the Christians in the short reign of the emperors Carinus and Numerianus, Thalelaeus was seized by Tiberius the governor of Edessa in Mesopotamia, from whose hands he is said to have been miraculously delivered. He was afterwards taken before Theodorus, the governor of Aegae in Cilicia, by whom he was exposed to various tortures, and at last put to death, A. D. 284. His constancy and his wonderful deliverances converted several of the bystanders, and among the rest his former tutor Macarius. His memory is celebrated by the Romish Church on May 20. (Acta Sanctorum, May 20. vol. v. p. 178*.)

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