Cyricus (Cyriacus, Quiriac, Quiricus, Cyr) and Julitta, martyrs, supposedly c.304. The Legend of Cyricus and Julitta which survives in several versions, but which was proscribed by pseudo-Gelasius, made Julitta a widow of Iconium, who took her three-year-old son Cyricus to Tarsus to escape persecution. Here, however, she was recognized and accused, suffered with her child a series of tortures which rebounded in some way against the persecutors, whom Cyricus attacked; eventually Julitta and her son were executed and their relics saved by other Christians.
Cyricus occurs in many place-names and church dedications in countries of Europe and the Near East, without his mother Julitta. He was supposed to come from Antioch and was a child-martyr of immense popularity. The oldest known representation of him is a series of frescoes at S. Maria Antiqua, Rome (8th century), while a 12th-century antependium at the Museum of Barcelona represents scenes from his Legend, as does a series of 15th-century stained-glass windows at Issoudun. His connection with France was strong, partly because some relics were brought back from Antioch by Amator, a 4th-century bishop of Auxerre, partly through a Nivernaise story (reproduced in the Golden Legend), according to which Charlemagne in a dream was saved from death by a wild boar on a hunt by the appearance of a child, who promised to save him from death if he would give him clothes to cover himself. The bishop of Nevers interpreted this to mean that he wanted the emperor to repair the roof of the cathedral, dedicated to St. Cyr. Hence his iconographical emblem of a naked child riding on a wild boar.
There are at least three churches in England dedicated to Cyricus including Newton St. Cyres (Devon). He was patron of children. Feast: 16 June (15 July in the East).
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- AA.SS. Iun III (1701), 15–37
- H. Delehaye, Les Origines du culte des Martyrs (1933), pp. 167–8
- A. Crosnier, Notice historique sur saint Cyr et sainte Julitte (1868)
