Ferial–W (IV) – St. Boniface of Tarsus, Martyr–R (Comm.)

Owing to the importance of Tarsus many martyrs were put to death there, among them being St. Pelagia, St. Boniface, St. Marinus, St. Diomedus, and Sts. Cerycus and Julitta; several Roman emperors were interred there — namely, Tacitus, Maximinus Daza, and Julian the Apostate. The Arabs took possession of Tarsus from the seventh century and kept it until 965, when Nicephorus Phocas annexed it again to the Byzantine Empire. The union continued for nearly a century. The crusaders captured it again from the Turks in 1097, and then it was disputed between Latins, Greeks, and Armenians of the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia; these last became definitively masters until about 1350, when it was sold to the Egyptians. Since then Tarsus has belonged to the Mussulmans.