(A.D. 95.)
[There is much confusion between the S. Onesimus, disciple of St.
Paul, and his namesake, bishop of Ephesus. Indeed, by many it is
supposed that there was only one Onesimus, and that the runaway
slave spoken of by S. Paul was afterwards bishop of Ephesus. The
Greeks commemorate the first on Feb. 15th, and the second on
December 1st.]
Onesimus was a Phrygian by birth, slave to Philemon, a person of note
of the city of Colossæ, converted to the faith by S. Paul. Having run
away from his master, he providentially met with S. Paul, then a
prisoner at Rome, who there converted and baptized him, and sent him,
with his canonical letter of recommendation, to Philemon, by whom he
was pardoned, set at liberty, and sent back to his spiritual father,
whom he afterwards faithfully served. The apostle made him, with
Tychicus, the bearer of his Epistle to the Colossians,[44] and
afterwards, as S. Jerome[45] and other fathers witness, a preacher of
the gospel and a bishop. The Greeks say he suffered under Domitian.
There was a bishop of Ephesus, after S. Timothy, of the same name, who
showed great respect for S. Ignatius, when on his journey to Rome, in
107, and is highly commended by him.[46] He was conducted to Rome two
years after, and was stoned to death.