Legendary discoveror of the true cross. He's said to have been Judas Quiriacus, , who assumed the name of Cyriacus upon conversion to Christianity. He's also said to have been the Bishop of Jerusalem. Cyril was the Bishop of Jerusalem in 350 and may have been become mis-associated because of the Cyr in both names. Many of the ancient Christians had been Jews. The Roman Empire considered Christians to be just another Jewish sect until around the year 70 - after the destruction of Jerusalem.
Saint Quirico being sawed !lengthwise! in half is part of another account of the Legend of Judas Quiriacus (deadlink www.erols.com site), !?Patron Saint of Ancona!?, who's celebrated on May 4th. That account appears to duplicate another at the www.catholic.org web site.
- 11/28/11 (discovered 9/13/11): The
mentions
the Jew "Jude or Judas, (who) later converted to Christianity and
took the name Kyriakos" and the "the Judas Kyriakos legend".
The "True Cross" of Jesus in Almeria - Monday, 12 September 2011 references three pieces of the "True Cross" located in Canjayar, Almeria and Berja, Spain; along with an english translation of one of the more dichotomously punative legends of its discovery - a version contradicting the peace and universal love around which ancient Christians were organized.
- 1/11/11: The Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry Project: Elene XIII at long last!
- 10/19/10: Coptic Orthodox: Synaxarium - 5 Babah - 15 October - 5 Tekemt - story of Saint Cyriacus the martyr and Hannah his mother who died at the orders of Elianus (Emperor Julian).
- An alternative version in The Legend of St. Helena and the Sweet Basil doesn't mention Quiriacus at all! Neither is he mentioned in the Chandlery book of 1903.
- THE LIFE OF ST. JOHN KHAME
... Hear again, O thou that gainsayeth, that I may convince thy heart through the Holy Scriptures. For seeing that the lawless Jews hid the holy Cross and the tomb of Christ and spake falsehood concerning his resurrection, after 300 years Cyriacus revealed it by command of the King Constantine (and) heaven and earth were filled with its holy glory. - SwaSmœteGold Material Purgation and Spiritual Refashioning
in Old English Visions of Judgment - Christopher Fee
... It is only through the spiritual “forge” of the pit that Judas is, first, “geclænsod”-- “cleansed”--of sin, and then refashioned into the form of the Christian bishop Cyriacus. ... homiletic addition with which Cynewulf ends his version, Elene follows closely the text of The Acts of Saint Cyriacus which Allen and Calder include in their work.
Bibliography:
Inventio Sanctae Inventio Sanctae Crucis.
Crucis (Cyriacus
legend) Pub: ca. 1000?
LC#: Incun. 1497.B49; Alternative class.: BT465
Inventio Sanctae The finding of the True Cross : the Judas Kyriakos legend
Crucis (Cyriacus in Syriac : introduction, text, and translation / by
legend) English Han J.W. Drijvers and Jan Willem Drijvers
& Syriac Pub: Lovanii : In aedibus Peeters, 1997
LC#: BR60.C5S85 t. 93; Alternative class.: BT465
