Also referred to as Dominica in the
Latinized version of her Greek name, this Roman widow of wealth was
scourged to death - apparently for harboring and distributing alms to the
persecuted Christians at her palatial home atop the Caelian (Coelian) Hill. Her martyrdom is highly
significant for being among the very first perpetrated against wealthy
Roman "CITIZENS" (Patricians) who were also Christians. Up to this
time, apparently, it was very exceptional to have highly regarded persons,
other than Church Leaders, of course, among those killed by the Empire.
Her martyrdom occurred not long after that of St. Laurence and the other
deacons, along with their Bishop at what may have been the height of the
Period of Military Anarchy in the middle of the 3rd century. A
time when Emperors were dying off as fast as the Church Leaders they
despised. A time when far flung wars and battles were putting a strain
on the Imperial Budget. Perhaps a time when financial needs forced
Imperial Leaders, many of them not having grown up in Rome and not so close
to its Patricians, to lessen their respect for the Citizens of Rome and what
that had meant for centuries up to that time.
The Chandlery book has an abundance of 'legend',
including photographs of old paintings, which tie this St.
Cyriaca into the history of St. Laurence.
The legend makes enough sense to be believable but hasn't been
substantiated by direct reference in any of the ancient writings found,
so far. One church (atop one of the seven
famous hills of Rome) is called Santa Maria in Domnica
(1582-Ciriaco Mattei ownership-OUTSTANDING pictures).
Her martyrdom in 249 would make her a premature victim of the persecution of who assumed power in October, 249, and didn't begin the 7th cycle of persecutions with an edict against Christians until January 250. In it, he ordered Bishops put to death and others tortured until they recanted their faith. (This is the edict St. Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage, managed to avoid by retiring to a safe hiding place. On his return, he took offence at those still alive - obviously for their not having kept the faith.)
The date of her death makes more sense as 259 - toward the end of the
GREAT persecution (8th) of Valerian begun in 257. Page 199 of the
Clarke book summarizes the final edict:
"... in August, A.D. 258, ... Valerian had sent a new rescript ...
ordering that bishops, presbyters, and deacons be summarily put to death; that senators,
men of rank, and Roman knights be deprived of both their rank and their
property, and, if afterwards they presisted in being Christians, be
executed; that matrons lose their property and be banished;
that all imperial officials who have either confessed before or confess
now have their property confiscated, be reduced to slavery, and sent to
work on the imperial estates."
Page 185 of the Healy book emphasizes that, "Although the edict expressly stated that the punishment to be inflicted on Christian matrons was confiscation and banishment, there were several women of noble birth who paid the extreme penalty." The supposedly extremely wealthy widow and matron Cyriaca may have been among them. (The motives of the Empire regarding confiscation should be obvious. Nowhere does there appear to be evidence that such confiscations were turned over to those running the "pagan temples" - the supposed, preferred alternative.)
She must be the "widow" who buried St. Laurence on 'her' "Ager Veran" estate in 'her' cemetery. It's no coincidence that's the area were the poor people were buried. She may be the one who began the process at that location next to her cemetery.
She can't be the almost 66 year old female apparently buried along with
the Popes and Cecilia in the oldest, most revered part of Callistus after
300, unless that dating is late by at least 41 years. She may have
been the matriarch of the extended Cyriac
family and highly revered role model for many other wealthy females
of Rome. She may have been among the wealthy Roman women called
'Lucina' during the persecutions who seem not to exist other than as
references to various clandestine activities associated with underground
burials. Lucina, the light, may have been the 'pseudonym' given to
wealthy female patrons who made the underground burials possible,
primarily through their ownership or control of the land surrounding Rome
where the catacombs were built. In other words, given that all this
activity was illegal, the real names of the private individuals involved
were never used. When asked where the resources came from, the
answer may have been, "from Lucina." (Ask the average citizen who the
Vice-President of the United States is to get an idea of how easy it
would be, even now, to pass off a fictitious name for some individual
known to insiders but not yet to the general populace.)
In a discussion of funeral discourses called laudations, on
page 369 of the same book, there is:
"Only two specimens have been found among ancient Christian monuments
in Rome; one of the fourth century in honour of a married lady named Cyriaca, who was buried in the cemetery of the same
name attached to the Basilica of St. Laurence in agro Verano, and
the other just now discovered in a part of the Cemetery of Callixtus
belonging to the same date. ... of Cyriaca it
is said that
"she has been translated from us to the rest of peace, and that for a
testimony of her life the holy martyrs will be her advocates with God and
Christ" (a nobis ad quitem pacis translata, cuique pro vitae suae
testimonium Sancti Martyres aput Deum et 
erunt
advocati ... Orat(o) Dominum tum, quod non mercor, uniter Dominum . . .
prestes in orationis tuis ut possit amartias meas indulgere. Te in
pacae)"
Leaping to the logical conclusion, these could be combined as:
DASVMIA QVIRIACE BONE FEMINE PALVMBRA
SENe FELlE A NOBIS AD QUITEM
PACIS TRANSLATA, CUIQUE PRO VITAE SUAE TESTIMONIUM SANCTI MARTYRES
APUT DEUM ET ERUNT ADVOCATI ...
ORAT(O) DOMINUM TUM, QUOD NON MERCOR, UNITER DOMINUM
QVÆ VIXIT ANNOS LXVI DEPOSITA IIII KAL MARTIAS IN PACE
PRESTES IN ORATIONIS TUIS UT POSSIT AMARTIAS MEAS INDULGERE. TE IN PACAE
(... indicates missing text which must include the "DAMASVS FECIT"
placed in all his epigraphs)
Which all indicates that Pope Damasus may have found this extraordinary crypt containing the body of a woman about whom nothing was known except that she was in the place of highest honor among the others. He apparently couldn't find anything about her, especially regarding transcipts of trials or other hearsay testimony, and therefore wasn't willing to take the chance of proclaiming her one of the Saint-Martyrs. So, he prepared the fancy laudation and covered his own 'heavenly future' with the "testimony of her life ..." section. But, if her actions were really as head of the family enterprise that was secretly involved in underground burial activities, then there wouldn't have been much known about her at the time - would there?!
Although there are various references to Cyriaca being buried in her own cemetery on the Via Tiburtina, and other references to a Cyriaca Chapel in the Basilica of St. Laurence thereat, there has been absolutely no evidence presented as to the location of her crypt. So, if she is really, actually entombed in one of the 'private' crypts in the oldest, central section of the Callistus catacomb, then it may indicate that a place was reserved for her when the land and already prepared underground crypts were donated to the Church at the turn of the century when she was just a baby or little girl. Or, it could indicate that her place of honor was in recognition of the GREAT contribution she and her wealth made to the Church during the critical 3rd century. Proving or disproving her role would seem to be easier than that of our primary St. Cyriacus at the Baths - merely for the fact that her supposed wealth would leave some records that are not just those of the Church, but none have been found, so far.
[ It may also be the case that a lot of the records regarding the confiscation of property belonging to wealthy Romans, along with the history of their ownership, were 'conveniently' lost in order to make the new owners more secure in their possessions. Wealth does motivate some people to do unpopular things. Do Bernie Madoff or Arthur Anderson and Enron ring a bell?! ]
DEPOSITA IIII KAL also indicates that she was buried in the early part of the year. If she really was involved with Laurence in August of 258, then her death, if by persecution, must have been in 259.
She lived in a palace atop the Caelian (Coelian), one of the seven famous hills of Rome. The next one northwest of her's was the Palatine! The constant traffic of poor people to her door made it extremely convenient to use her home as a SECRET BASE of operations for clandestine activities associated with the Christian Church of Rome. How could anyone tell the difference between people, rich or poor, going to her house for friendly visits or alms and Christians going there for secret meetings?! It was perfect! And, her exalted status among the nobility kept the Empire at arm's length for a lot longer than would have been possible otherwise.
Having confiscated as much as possible to help finance continued military operations, the Empire at this time seems to also have decreased dramatically the intensity of this round of persecutions. That makes it appear that the real purpose of some of the most cruel killing, of 250, 259 and 304, may have been to discover the 'supposed' wealth of the Church in order to obtain funds in lieu of more taxation on an already over-taxed populace. These power-hungry, presumably greedy Emperors couldn't believe that the real treasure of the Church was 'merely' a bunch of books (Mark, Matthew, Luke and John) and documents (martyrologies, rites, correspondence, etc.) and the bodies of the dead Christians themselves. In addition, they probably couldn't conceive that those things could be more valuable to the Christians than any amount of gold, jewels or other more earthly treasure.
Both Cyriaca's property on the Caelian (Coelian) hill and her "Ager Veran" estate, the site of the cemetery and catacomb, became the property of the Church by the middle of the 4th century. They could have been confiscated in 259 and then returned to the Church under Aurelian in 260, less, of course, the cash or equivalents spent by Valerian. (Our Cyriacus at the Baths could also have donated the real estate to the Church, were he an owner, and then helped supervise the underground burial activities therein.)
In any case, it indicates that her death seems also to have been the
death of the 
, at least so far as property or any
other wealth (and associated notoriety) is concerned. There is an
inscription of around 388 that references an innocent QVIRIACE who lived only 3 years 3 months and 8
days. (Without wealth or some family enterprise continuing beyond
the 3rd century, the task of finding meaningful records is much more
difficult, if not impossible.)
Pictures of a roughly sculpted frieze of men and women, with what appears to be "RRIACYRIACLEEF:-MAIERFILIAP" in the inscription at the top, are also available. The source is unknown, but this may be a so-called profane Greek sculpture found amongst the others in the Cyriaca cemetery or catacomb.
'In 1843 the "profane" was founded by Gregory XVI, ...'
It or the Chigi Library, also in Rome, may have the original artifact.
