Page "Onesimus" Paragraph 6

The traditional Western commemoration of Onesimus is on 16 February.

But in the 2004 edition of the Roman Martyrology, Onesimus is listed under 15 February with the Latin name Onésimi.

He is mentioned as follows: ' A runaway slave, whom the apostle Paul received to the faith of Christ while in prison, regarding him as a son of whom he had become father, as he himself wrote to Philemon, Onesimus's master .'.

The date is designated the ' commemoration of blessed Onesimus ', indicating that it is not regarded as his date of death, and suggesting that his rank in the Catholic Church may be Blessed rather than Saint.