Cyricus and Julitta

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Saint Quiricus and Saint Julitta
)

Cyricus and Julitta
BornIconium, Asia Minor
(modern-day Konya, Turkey)
Died~304 AD
Tarsus, Asia Minor
(modern-day Tarsus, Mersin, Turkey)
Venerated inChurch of the East
Catholic Church
Oriental Orthodox Churches
Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrineRelics at Nevers, and in the monastery of Saint-Amand, Tournai.
Feast
  • 16 June (Catholic Church)
  • 15 July (Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches)
AttributesFrom the story involving Charlemagne, Cyricus is depicted as a naked child riding on a wild boar.
PatronagePrayed to for family happiness, and the restoring to health of sick children.
Cyricus and Julitta at Villamelendro (Palencia, Spain) Church of La Asunción.
Cyricus and Julitta at Villamelendro (Palencia, Spain) Church of La Asunción.

Cyricus (

Tarsus
in AD 304.

Cyricus

Some evidence exists for an otherwise unknown child-martyr named Cyricus at

Decretum Gelasianum, called as such since the list was erroneously attributed to Pope Gelasius I
.

History

Sculpture of St. Cyricus as a bald toddler standing in a small tub and holding a palm branch
Francesco Laurana, "St. Cyricus," Getty Center, Los Angeles

According to one version of their martyrdom, Julitta and her three-year-old son Cyricus had fled to

criminals, but two maids rescued the corpses of the mother and child and buried them in a nearby field. This version is recorded in a letter from Theodore of Mopsuestia to Pope Zosimus[3] and in the Acta Graece Sincera.[4]

An alternative version of the story is found in Latin, Syriac, and Arabic.[5] In this version, Julitta is captured without Cyricus and brought before the governor. She refuses to sacrifice to idols and tells him to find a child, so that they can ask him if he thinks it is right to worship one god or many. Cyricus is found and he declares himself to be a Christian. The governor inflicts many tortures on them, all of which they miraculously survive. Satan enters Julitta's heart, causing her to be afraid of death, but Cyricus emboldens her with encouragement and prayers. The mother and child are finally decapitated.

Cyricus and Charlemagne

A story from Nevers states that one night Charlemagne dreamed he was saved from being killed by a wild boar during a hunt. He was saved by the appearance of a nude child, who had promised to save the Emperor from death if he would give him clothes to cover his nakedness.

The

Cathédrale Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte de Nevers
.

Veneration

Croatia

In Croatia, in the Town of Visnjan, there is a 17th-century loggia and the church of Saint Cyricus (Kirik) and Julitta (Julita).

Georgia

Cyricus (Kvirike) and Julitta (Ivlita) are venerated as patron saints of the Kala community in the highland province of

Ekvtime Taqaishvili, for the Svans Lagurka is what for the ancient Greeks was Delphi—the symbol of their unity.[7]

Italy

San Quirico d’Orcia

In Italy, where they are known as Quirico (or Quilico, or Chirico) and Giulitta (or Giuletta or Giulietta ),

. San Quirico Province of Pistoia

In parts of Piedmont, including Centallo, Asti and Murisengo, an unconnected Saint Quirico is venerated, regarded as a member of the Theban Legion.[8]

British Isles

There are a few churches in

Newton St. Cyres in Devon, Tickenham[11] in Somerset, and Swaffham Prior in Cambridgeshire. In Cornwall, they can be found in the villages of Luxulyan and St Veep, and there was also once a chapel at Calstock dedicated to these two saints. In Wales there is a least one church dedicated to the saints, in Llanilid
, but named as St. Ilid and St. Curig.

The cult of "St. Giric" was formerly much more widespread in Celtic Britain, however. His feast day was one of the principal Welsh holidays, as codified by the

Print of St Cyricus in Lacock, Wiltshire.

St Cyriac's Church, Lacock, Wiltshire, has a framed print of a similar story depicting St Cyricus boxing a governor's ears because the governor had blasphemed. The embittered governor stabs the child dead and the mother is crucified. This print appears to be based on panels from the predella of a 15th-century Italian altarpiece dedicated to Cyricus.[13]

Middle East

Cyricus in particular is mentioned numerous times in the

daily office of the Church of the East as attested in the large collection of prayers and services known as the Hudra. The mention of a saint from Tarsus in such East Syriac
traditions suggests that there was considerable early sharing of martyrological traditions despite doctrinal differences between churches.

Ethiopia and Eritrea

Cyricus or Qirqos (ቂርቆስ), also known as Qurqos or Č̣ǝrqos/Č̣ärqos, is a popular saint in Ethiopia and Eritrea, along with Julitta (ኢየሉጣ, ʾIyäluṭa). His feast is celebrated on the 15th of the month of Ṭərr (ጥር). Many churches in Ethiopia and Eritrea are named after Qirqos.[14]

India

Cyriacus is one of the saints venerated by the

seven churches associated with the mission of Thomas the Apostle, was originally dedicated to Cyriacus.[16] There is a small piece of St. Cyricus / Kuriakose's finger at St. Peter's and St. Paul's Orthodox Church in Puthencruz (Ernakulam) They celebrate his Perunnal (feast) on July 27, 28 and the anniversary of the relocation of his bone on Nov 13, 14 of every year. Also, a piece of his other finger can be found in St. George Dayro in Malecruze
in Ernakulam.

Ethiopic texts

Ethiopic texts on Saint Qirqos include:[17]

  • Gädlä Qirqos "(Spiritual) Combat of Qirqos" (Passio)
  • Täʾamrä Qirqos "Miracles of Qirqos"
  • Mälkʾa Qirqos "Image of Qirqos"
  • Sälam lä-Qirqos "Salutation to Qirqos"

Ethiopian manuscripts containing the Passio of St. Qirqos that were digitized by the Ethio-SPaRe project include:[17]

  • ʿAddi Qolqwal Giyorgis: 1 MS (
    Gädlä Sämaʿtat
    , 16th century)
  • Koholo Yoḥannǝs: 1 MS (
    Gädlä Sämaʿtat
    , 15th century)
  • Mǝdrä Ruba: 1 MS (19th century)
  • Qǝddus Qirqos: 2 MSS (19th century)
  • Qändaʻro Qirqos: 1 MS (20th century)
  • ʿUra Qirqos: 4 MSS (14th/15th, 19th, 18th, 20th century; 1 MS
    Gädlä Sämaʿtat
    )
  • Wälwalo Qirqos: 1 MS (19th century)

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Saint Martyrs Julitta (Giulietta, Julietta) and Cyricus (Kirik, Cyr, Cyriacus, Quiriac, Quiricus) mother and son of Tarsus". www.icon.lt. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  2. .
  3. ^ Papebroch, Daniel (1867). Acta Sanctorum, Junii, vol. 3. Paris & Rome. pp. 19–23.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ van Hoof, Gulielmus (1882). Analecta Bollandiana 1. Bruxelles. pp. 192–208.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ Terpelyuk, Alisa (2009). Martyrdom of Mār Qūryāqūs and Yōlīṭī (Cyriacus & Julitta). Critical text, Russian translation from Syriac, and research by Аlisa А. Тerpelyuk. Moscow: Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, Russian State University for the Humanities. p. 5.
  6. JSTOR 23597593
    .
  7. ^ Taqaishvili, Ekvtime (1937). არქეოლოგიური ექსპედიცია ლეჩხუმ-სვანეთში [Archaeological expedition to Lechkhumi and Svaneti] (PDF) (in Georgian). Paris. pp. 179–184.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ a b Santi Quirico e Giullita : I lori nomi Archived 2007-10-21 at the Wayback Machine (in Italian)
  9. ^ For a description and history of the church see Collegiata dei Santi Quirico e Giulitta (in English)
  10. ^ See the list at Santi Quirico e Giullita: Il culto in Italia Archived 2007-10-21 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ^ "Home". tickenhamchurch.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-04-27. Retrieved 2006-06-21.
  12. Wade-Evans, Arthur. Welsh Medieval Laws, p. 343
    . Oxford Univ., 1909. Accessed 31 Jan. 2013.
  13. ^ "Story of Saints Julitta and Quiricus (Three predella panels)".
  14. ^ Pisani, Vitagrazia (2013). Il culto di San Qirqos nell’Etiopia storica: analisi storico-filologica, con edizione critica della "Passio" (Gädlä Qirqos) (Ph.D. dissertation). Naples: Università degli Studi di Napoli "L’Orientale".
  15. ^ Brock, Sebastian P. (2011a). "Thomas Christians". In Sebastian P. Brock; Aaron M. Butts; George A. Kiraz; Lucas Van Rompay (eds.). Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Gorgias Press. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  16. ^ Whitehouse, Thomas (1873). Lingerings of light in a dark land: researches into the Syrian church of Malabar (1873 ed.). William Brown & CO. p. 31.
  17. ^ a b Pisani, Vitagrazia (28 April 2012). The Martyrdom of Saint Cyricus (Qirqos) in North Ethiopia: Elements of the devotion and of the manuscripts tradition. University of Hamburg.

External links