Cyriacus: Difference between revisions

{{other people||Cyriacus (name)|Kyriakos (name)}}

| honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]

| name = Cyriacus

| birth_date = 3rd century

| death_date = 303

| feast_day = 7 June ([[Eastern Orthodox Church]])<br /> 8 August ([[Roman Catholic Church]])

| venerated_in=[[Eastern Orthodox Churches]]<br />[[Oriental Orthodoxy]]<br />[[Catholic Church]]

| image = Heiliger Cyriakus.jpg

| imagesize = 150px

| caption =''Saint Cyriacus'', by the [[Master of Meßkirch]]

| birth_place =

| death_place =

| titles = [[Christian Martyrs|Martyr]], [[Holy Helper]]

| beatified_date =

| beatified_place =

| beatified_by =

|canonized_date = [[Pre-congregation|Pre-Congregation]]

| canonized_place =

| canonized_by =

| attributes = depicted as a deacon; book of [[exorcism]]; with Artemia

| patronage = [[temptation]] on the deathbed; [[viticulture]] (in the [[Electorate of the Palatinate]]; [[Saint-Cierges, Switzerland]]; [[eye disease]])

| major_shrine =

| suppressed_date =

| issues =

'''Cyriacus''' ({{lang-el|Ἅγιος Κυριακός|Kyriakos}}, [[floruit|fl.]] 303 AD), sometimes [[Anglicization|Anglicized]] as '''Cyriac''', according to Christian tradition, is a [[Christian martyrs|Christian martyr]] who was killed in the [[Diocletianic Persecution]]. He is one of twenty-seven saints, most of them martyrs, who bear this name,<ref>[http://www.santibeati.it/dettaglio/65550 Antonio Borrelli, "San Ciriaco di Roma"]</ref> of whom only seven are honoured by a specific mention of their names in the [[Roman Martyrology]].<ref>Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}})</ref>

Of the Saint Cyriacus who, together with '''Saints Largus and Smaragdus''' and others (of whom Crescentianus, Memmia and Juliana are mentioned in the Roman Martyrology), is venerated on 8 August, all that is known with certainty, apart from their names and the fact of their martyrdom, is that they were buried at the seventh milestone of the [[Via Ostiensis]] on that date.<ref>{{cite book| title = [[General Roman Calendar|Calendarium Romanum]] |publisher = Libreria Editrice Vaticana | date = 1969|page = 133}}</ref>

However, legend has it that Cyriacus was a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[nobleman]] who converted to [[Christianity]] as an adult and, renouncing his material wealth, gave it away to the poor. He spent the rest of his life ministering to the slaves who worked in the [[Baths of Diocletian]]. Under the reign of [[Western Roman Emperor]] [[Maximian]], co-emperor with [[Diocletian]], Cyriacus was tortured and put to death, [[decapitation|beheaded]] in 303 on the [[Via Salaria]], where he was subsequently buried. With him were martyred his companions Largus and Smaragdus, and twenty others, including Crescentianus, Sergius, Secundus, Alban, Victorianus, Faustinus, Felix, Sylvanus, and four women: Memmia, Juliana, Cyriacides, and Donata.<ref>{{cite book| first= Alban | last = Butler| title = The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints| publisher = J. Duffy| year = 1866| page = 123}}</ref>

Saint Cyriacus is credited with [[exorcism|exorcizing]] demons from two girls. The first was Artemisia (or Artemia), the daughter of Emperor [[Diocletian]], which resulted in both Artemisia and her mother [[Serena of Rome]] converting to Christianity. The second was Jobias, the daughter of [[Shapur I]] of [[Persia]] (reigned 241–272), which led to the conversion of the King's entire household. However, this is impossible, because Shapur died thirty years before the reputed exorcism and because he had only one daughter named Adur-Anahid.<ref name="deangelis">{{cite web | url=https://www.deangelis.it/san-ciriaco-un-santo-tra-storia-leggenda-e-arte | title=San Ciriaco. Un santo tra storia, leggenda e arte | language =it|first=Florindo | last = Cirignano | year= 2018|isbn = 978-88-95742-50-2 }}</ref>

It is possible that the girl reportedly exorcised was a daughter of [[Narseh]] (293–303) or of [[Hormizd II]] (303–309). It is more likely that many Bishops throughout the world have been named in honor of Saint Cyriacus at the Baths (of Diocletian).

The [[Tridentine calendar]] included the feast day of Cyriacus, Largus and Smaragdus on 8 August as a Semidouble. In 1955 this rank was lowered to that of Simple.<ref>[[General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII]]</ref> The 1962 Calendar, issued together with [[Pope John XXIII]]'s [[Roman Missal]], the licit private and, under certain conditions, public use of which was authorized by the 2007 motu proprio ''[[Summorum Pontificum]]'', reduced their celebration to a [[Commemoration (liturgy)|Commemoration]]. They are not included in the 1970 reformed Calendar of the [[Roman Rite]] liturgy, which was issued under the authority of Pope Paul VI, but, being included, all three, together with Memmia, Juliana and Smaragdus, in the [[Roman Martyrology]],<ref>Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}})</ref> they are recognized saints of the [[Roman Catholic Church]].

It is claimed his [[relic]]s were moved to [[Santa Maria in Via Lata]] in Rome, and the abbey of St Cyriaque in [[Altorf]] in [[Alsace]].

The Church of "Saint Cyriacus in the Baths of Diocletian" ({{lang-la|"Sanctus Ciriacus in Thermis Diocletiani"}}), was dedicated to this martyr, a former ''[[Titular church|titulus]]'' church. The "tituli" were commonly named after their patron, often a lay patron in the early centuries: ''"Cyriac"'' in Greek signifies simply ''"patron."'' This ''"titulus,"'' to which a cardinal was assigned, whatever its claimed second- or third-century origins, existed certainly in the fifth century, when Marcianus was cardinal priest of the title of S. Ciriaco alle Terme di Diocleziano in 494, at the time of [[Pope Gelasius I]]. The titulus was suppressed in 1477 by [[Pope Sixtus IV]] in favor of [[Quiricus and Julietta|Saints Ciro and Giulitta]]. In 1493, [[Pope Alexander VI]] restored the name of S. Ciriaco. The title was definitively suppressed in 1587 by [[Pope Sixtus V]], who assigned a titulus of [[Quiricus and Julietta|Sts Quirico e Giulitta]] to [[Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici]].<ref>This history of the "titulus" follows [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/consistories-ii-v.htm Salvador Miranda, "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church," ''s.v.'' "St. Gelasius I (492–496)"]; "Annuaire Pontifical Catholique", 1926</ref>

There were monasteries dedicated to St Cyriacus in the now destroyed [[Arab]] village of [[Majdal Yaba]] in [[Israel]] and the existing village of [[Al-Fasayil]] near [[Jericho]]. The residents of both these villages venerated him during the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]]-era.

On St Cyriacus' feast day, 8 August 1899, a [[Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale|category four]] [[hurricane]] made landfall on the island of [[Puerto Rico]] and was named after him. It was known as the [[1899 Hurricane San Ciriaco|Hurricane San Ciriaco]].

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061101071534/http://www.cyriac-fhp.com/csx.htm St. Cyriacus at the Baths (Cyriac Family History Project)]

*[http://www.torrelenocelle.com/sanciriaco/index.html](San Ciriaco a Torre le Nocelle)

*{{in lang|de}} [http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienC/Cyriacus.htm Cyriacus]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170807120649/http://98.131.104.126/prolog/June7.htm From the Prologue of Ohrid]

[[Category:Legendary Romans]]

[[Category:Christians martyred during the reign of Diocletian]]