The inscriptions from whence many of the Depositio Martyrum entries came survived long
enough to be found primarily because they were 'underground' and hidden from
those destroying everything related to Christianity that could be found
'above ground' during the FINAL Great
Persecution of 303 ~ 313 AD.
The Depositio Martyrum and many other
administrative references may have been created 'on the fly' by the
administrator in charge of the cemeteries in the middle of the 4th century -
the person who later served as Pope from 366 through 383. The same
person who created and placed epigraphs to the most significant martyrs
found in the underground cemeteries. The one who should probably be
referred to as the FIRST SERIOUS SCHOLAR of the catacombs of Rome
- Pope-Saint Damasus. (The proof of Damasus' promotional efforts regarding the catacombs may be
reflected by the Cult of the Saints
- a phenomenon begun around the end of the 4th century, or so, and repeated
one or more times several hundred years apart. The Cyriacus Chapel built around
780/781 in Magdeburg appears to be the earliest recorded evidence of one of those
episodes of the phenomenon in Germany.)
Although many of the other martyr's inscriptions have been identified
and located, that of this Cyriacks at the Baths seems
not to be among them. His epitaph may have been lost, relocated or
destroyed - but maybe not before someone else copied it.
John Capgrave may have translated it (or some form of it) almost verbatim
from a plaque at the then still extant St. Cyriacus Chapel across from the
ruins of the Baths of Diocletian when he visited Rome in the middle of the
15th century. [ Ben Ciriacks thinks that the
succinctness and exactness of the ?latin? wording from whence his olde
english translation came (see it at legends on this page and
a separate page here) hints at an inscribed in stone,
bronze or other weather and time resistant source. See the Voragine translation at the same place on
this page for a more verbose (and ?dubious?) alternative. ]
It may be from whence the legends regarding
he and the others came. If so, it can be given more credence
thereby. The dedications by Damasus didn't generally go
into much detail about the martyrdoms, indicating both his unwillingness to
'fabricate' legends and the enhanced credibility of
those details which were provided. In other words, Damasus
may have assigned degrees of validity to the 1st, 2nd or 3rd hand testimony
gathered regarding the martyrdoms and was unwilling to pass along those he
considered too tenuous.
St. Basil the Great's 271st Letter (this one directed to a
long deceased Eusebius), probably regards this Cyriacus at
the Baths. If so, it is the oldest and first written (as opposed
to inscribed in stone) reference to him that we've
found, so far. See the applicable portion of Basil's letter
CCLXXI toward the end of the Kayseri-Caesarea-Cesarea entry at our Christian
locales page.
Patron Saint called upon "to gain control over
the ego", protector against demonic possession and eye disease, one
of the Fourteen Holy
Helpers[ note the Ciriacus, Cyriacus & Kyriakos spellings at that ?Danish/Norwegian? site ]
revered in Germany and surrounding areas, he's possibly one of the earliest if not the
first exorcist of the Rome based Church. According to The
Catholic Encyclopedia for School and Home, not much is known about this
early Roman martyr. Even the exact date that he, Largus and Smaragdus, also
early Saints, were put to death is unknown.
That's an
understatement! He should be the patron saint of altruists,
the homeless, travellers and the dispossessed. Here's what's been
pieced together from various, oftentimes contradictory references to Cyriacus, Largus and Smaragdus:
[ September 15th, 2012: We now have a separate page that shows what an
olde englishe version of the writing on the ?lost? plaque from whence
Friar Capgrave translated his version of the legend might have looked -
latin was probably the language used on the plaque he saw. ]
8/8/09: A 'commemoration date' Cyriacus
of Rome BlogSpot entry from Deacon and author Ormonde Plater of New
Orleans, Louisiana provides a comprehensive narrative that also includes
the beheading of Sisinius before the others:
8 August
Cyriacus, deacon and martyr, with companions, beheaded at
Rome in 303.
Born of a noble family, Cyriacus became a Christian and
gave his wealth to the poor. He was ordained a deacon at Rome by
bishop Marcellinus. Diocletian was emperor, assisted by
Maximian, his favorite.
Maximian decided to build a
beautiful palace for the emperor, with magnificent baths, and to make the
Christians work at the construction. Among the new slaves were old
men and presbyters. The labor was hard and the food scanty. A
Roman nobleman desired to relieve the sufferings of these laborers and
sent four Christians with alms and encouragements, Cyriacus,
Sisinius, Largus, and Smaragdus. They pursued their charities at
the risk of their lives, and they worked vigorously alongside those who
were growing very weak.
When Maximian heard of it,
he ordered the beheading of Sisinius and an old man he had helped.
Cyriacus was well known to Diocletian, who was fond of
him. Suddenly Diocletian's daughter became possessed by a demon,
and she announced that only Cyriacus could deliver her.
Diocletian sent for him, and he cured her. She became a Christian
like her mother, Serena. A short time later the daughter of the
king of Persia also became possessed, and cried out like Diocletian's
daughter that she could be delivered only by Cyriacus, who
was in Rome. A message was sent to Diocletian, who asked his wife
to persuade the deacon to go to Persia. He went with his two
remaining Christian companions, and again he cast out the demon, thus
bringing about the conversion of the king, his family, and four hundred
persons, whom he baptized.
The three confessors returned to Rome, having refused all compensation
for their services, saying that they had received the gifts of God freely
and wished to share them freely. Maximian, hearing of their return in 303, had them
seized, imprisoned, tortured, and finally beheaded with twenty other
Christians. Their bodies were buried near the place of their
execution on the Salarian Way but later were removed to the city.
An abbey in France, at Altorf in Alsace,
possesses relics of Cyriacus and bears his
name.
Another site
with a slightly differing narrative gives sources for this narrative as Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin
(Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 9; Little Pictorial Lives of the
Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other
sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
Yet another site has the Cyriaque spelling for this
renowned saint and their church dedicated to him.
They and several thousand other Christian
slaves were helping build the new great Baths of Diocletian. The baths were located inside the recently
built Aurelian Wall closest to the Porta Pia and Porta Salaria from whence
the Via Nomentana and Via Salaria begin, respectively.
They were slaves because that was the way the Empire dealt with Christians
when they didn't want to just kill them off - a convenient way to get cheap,
relatively cooperative labor. The usual method was to enforce the
loyalty oath to the Empire and its pagan gods -- knowing that the Christians
would refuse to make it. And, given that Christians, using Jesus
Christ as their role model, did not themselves resort to violence, they
became very docile
workers.
Cyriacus was said to be both deacon and confessor, while Largus and Smaragdus were
just confessors. (At that time in Church history, deacons were a rung below bishops but apparently
weren't required to be priests/presbyters before that!)
The administrative portion of the FINAL Great
Persecution began in Nicomedia on February 23rd, 303. Its first
step was the destruction of churches and Church records. In addition,
the often used pro-pagan loyalty
test was reintroduced,
forcing more Christians into slave labor until the next, killing phase was
begun the next year. (It undoubtedly made the killing phase easier
when pre-identified Christians were already grouped together.) In any event,
when the baths were finished, the Christian slaves on hand were all killed
in one fell swoop - Cyriacus, Largus
and Smaragdus, et al, among them - both in legend and
?apparently? in fact.
[ That this FINAL Great
Persecution was pre-planned is hinted at by various sources indicating
that the purge of the military was begun two decades earlier when Diocletian
assumed power in 284. He had to make sure his orders to kill all the Christians, when that time came, weren't
undermined by Christian soldiers or soldiers with Christian
sympathies. It's likely that the Christians soldiers in Rome were the
last to be purged. ]
The Martyrology of the Sacred Order of Friars Preachers site (found on
March 20th, 2000) in a discussion of March 16th has:
"At Rome, the suffering of St. Cyriacus,
deacon. After wasting away for a long time in
prison, melted pitch was poured over him. He was stretched out on a
platform, bound with leather thongs, and beaten with clubs. Finally,
at the command of Maximian, he was beheaded
in company with Largus, Smaragdus, and twenty others. Their feast is
observed on August 8 because that was the day on which the bodies of these
twenty-three martyrs were exhumed by Pope St. Marcellus and
given honorable burial."
"... martyrs Cyriacus,
deacon, Largus, and Smaragdus, with twenty others,
who suffered on March 16. Their bodies were buried on the Via Salaria
by a priest named John, and on this day Pope St. Marcellus
removed them to the garden of Lucina, on the Via Ostiensis. Afterward,
they were brought into the city, and buried in the deaconry of St. Mary's in Via Latina. ..."
The Catholic Encyclopedia for School and Home, McGraw-Hill, 1965, has:
"All that is known for certain about St. Cyriacus is that he was an early Roman martyr. Other details of this life are probably
fictitious. Not even the date of this death is known." (It and
the following sites provide the details for most of the rest of the legend.)
Some German sites
(onetwothree) expand upon the Cyriacus legend:
Under the direction of
Pope
Marcellinus (296 ~ 304), Cyriacus was a deacon and confessor to the enslaved Christians building the splendid baths of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305). Assisting him
were Largus and Smaragdus.
Cyriacus (et al)
were arrested for these activities, but when Cyriacus
exorcised the the demons from the Emperor's daughter, Artemia, he rewarded him with a house - a house
which became a church or meeting place for Christians when Christianity was
still illegal in Rome.
Saint Cyriakus heals the Caesar Diocletian's daughter of epilepsy.
Matthias Grünewald (1460-1528)
Wing of the so-called Heller Altar, Frankfurt (Historisches Museum
Frankfurt)
8/5/10: St. Cyriakus, Zimmerbach (Die Sankt Cyriakus Kirche) has an image of
the Grünewald Heller-Altar painting of Der Heilige Cyriakus
(with Princess Artemia kneeling at his right) along with much of his legend
and 'known' history.
In fulfillment of a prophecy
springing forth from the devil driven out of Artemia, Cyriacus went to Persia (referred to as Babylon in the
legend) to exorcise the Persian king's daughter. Cyriacus is said to have converted many of the Persians
to Christianity. [ It should be remember that before
the Romans and before the Greeks, it was the Persians who had conquered
the 'world' - or at least the world around the Mediterranean that they
all knew. Cyriacus was a Greek and a Roman Citizen who
may have had familial ties to even more ancient Persia. ] Meanwhile back in Rome, the times
were changing. The FINAL Great
Persecution had already begun. Upon return to Rome, the
Emperor's colleague Maximian had Cyriacus , Largus and Smaragdus put to death outside the
city.
Another part of the legend indicates that Maximian seized Cyriacus for
torture, including pouring hot pitch over his body before finally
beheading him. Another official then
confiscatedCyriacus' house,
bathed in its' sacred baptistry and held a banquet for himself and 19
friends - all of whom suddenly died together as a consequence of this
sacrilege. [ 10/12/09: This may be why the 'titulus' associated with this site
has been wandering around ever since and lends credence to this part
of the story. ] Cyriacus is said to have been buried
at the via Ostiensis with his relics
eventually dispersing to Ancona, Neuhausen at Worms, Bamberg and old village in the Elsass.
St. Cyriacus'
feast is celebrated on August 8.
During the process when the Church was being officially
recognized and organized in the first half of the 4th century, it was caught
between a rock and a hard place. While the Empire wanted it to
designate those areas to which it laid claim - mostly where Christians
had been meeting or had established church edifices by 303 - the
individuals who were aware of those locations were killed off as part of the
FINAL Great Persecution of 303 ~ 313.
In addition, the churches were destroyed and the catacombs were blocked or
hidden.
It's self-evident that any Church leadership extant in the
decades immediately after the end of the FINAL Great Persecution, merely by being alive to assume a leadership
role, evidenced less than total commitment to the Christian faith. In
other words, the only valid usage of the otherwise odious phrase, "the
only good Christian, is a dead Christian", may have actually been
applicable in the aftermath of the FINAL Great
Persecution begun in 303. Those having gone into hiding to save
their souls obviously didn't fully believe in the immediate ascension into
heavan involved with glorious martyrdom for their faith.
It probably took until the middle of the 4th century for the
Church to reform and reorganize itself among those left who were unborn or
too young to suffer death for their faith. These were the leaders who
evidently began the process of recreating the records destroyed in Rome at
that time.
Their problem, obviously, was that first hand witnesses
couldn't be trusted unless they were Christian and they couldn't have
survived unless they denied their faith - thereby making themselves
untrustworthy. It's understandable that records about Rome extant in
other bishoprics were not shared because of the generic distrust toward the
Roman Church leadership evidenced until mid-4th century by some and
continuing even today by others.
Well, by the time the records were re-created, the only
accounts that could have been pieced together were from non-Christians,
pseudo-Christians or even pagans who were old enough at the beginning of the
century to understand what they had witnessed or 'overheard'. In fact,
there were most likely NO WITNESSES still alive 75 years later in 350 who
had first hand knowledge even of the penultimate persecution of Aurelian,
who reigned from 270 to 275. The knowledge we have about those events
seems to be as inadequate as those of the 1st and 2nd centuries. The
knowledge we have before 260 seems to come from copies of letters, mostly by
Bishop-Saint-Martyr Cyprian and others, that were not destroyed because they
were not in Rome. There seems to be almost nothing, if anything extant
regarding the Church in Rome between 260 and 308.
So, testimony was taken, cemeteries, catacombs and ruins were
located and names were matched as well as could be done. The ruins
were probably presumed to have been former churches, or at minimum houses of
wealthy Christians where meetings took place but which had not yet become
formal churches. (There is mention in the various
writings regarding plaques affixed to houses which contained the names of
the owners thereof - something extant in many parts of Europe to this
day. Given the thorough destruction involved, it's doubtful that many,
if any of these tangible 'titles' survived to provide evidence after
313. It's more likely that witnesses described seeing them on the
houses before they became ruins.)
Needless to say, it was in the self-interest of the Church to
designate as many sites as possible, since the Empire apparently was quite
willing to give them complete control over each site. On the other
hand, it also makes sense that the Empire wasn't dumb enough to accept more
sites than were warranted by legitmate evidence. One such site
involved Cyriacus, Largus, Smaragdus, et al. [ Remember, they were supposed to have been killed at the
site of the largest, then extant public works project in the Roman Empire -
the Baths of Diocletian. It's unlikely the empire was willing to go so
far as to let the church have that site or that the new leaders rebuilding
the church had the audacity to lay claim to it! It's noteworthy that
the Depositio Martyrum doesn't show the
consuls at the time of their martyrdom - as it does for a few others - even
though theirs contains the greatest number of martyrs listed together, six
in all. Listing the consuls indicates that the martyrdom was known to
have occurred at a specific time. When absent, it seems to imply that
although the martyrdom was known to have occurred, the exact circumstances,
especially including the date and most likely the locale, were unknown
around 354 A.D., when the priceless Depositio
Martyrum seems to have been prepared. ]
The best evidence discovered, so far, that the bodies of Cyriacus, et al, were ever found is the head relic located
in the Duke Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig. My wild guess says
that it contains relics from the head of Cyriacus - if not the entire head, itself. The other
references to the citing of his relics,
head or body are summarized below.
304 A.D. Via Salaria/Alta Semita ?Site of
beheading and martyrdom? The Baths of Diocletian are adjacent to the
Alta Semita which continued on to become the Via Nomentana at the Aurelian
Wall surrounding Rome. The Via Salaria also begins at the same wall as
the continuation of an avenue that ran parallel to and just north of the
Alta Semita. In other words, an ancient reference to the Via Salaria,
especially coming from 2nd or 3rd hand informants, may just as well have
been to what was called the Alta Semita - or the site of the NEWLY
CONSTRUCTED great Baths of Diocletian. The church of Santa Maria degli
Angeli (Our Lady of the Angels) was built among the ruins of the baths
from 1563 to 1566 according to the Chandlery
book and the web site discussing the church. Another web site also
stated that: [ "The Chapel of Relics ... was
built in 1742 to hold relics of martyrs
connected to the building of the Baths of Diocletian. ... Among the
martyrs some names have been preserved, such as Sts Cyriacus, Largus, Smaragdus and Maximus the
Centurion. ..." ]
366~383 Via Ostiense A site in need of a
martyr because it ?was already Church connected? and had no martyr already
associated with it. Because the site of their martyrdom was probably
at the newly constructed, gigantic Baths of Diocletian, it would have been
impolitic to claim it as a site (Titulus), so another at
the 7 mile marker
along the Ostian Way may have been selected. Or, this could have been the site where another
Bishop Cyriacus had held
sway. We know next to nothing about this individual (all the records
of the time being destroyed) but he could have been martyred around 234 ~
259 and may have been one of the more prominent members of the Rome centered
Cyriac Family. An indication of this
prominence comes from
, which has:
"Not counting St. Cyriacus, martyr,
and Maximus the bishop who, according to the Acts of St. Laurence, consecrated
in 269, the first
Bishop of Ostia was
Maximus, A. D. 313. We know from St. Augustine that the Bishop of Ostia sometimes
consecrated the pope. ...
[ 1/6/03 update: Note that the year should
be 259 - not 269. Pope Dionysius was the eighth pope installed in
the three decades since the especially cruel persecutions began around
235. In fact, his installation came after several months when there
was no Bishop of Rome. It was preceded by the execution of Pope
Sixtus and, a few days later, the connected
martyrdom of St. Lawrence. This may indicate
that the Bishop of Ostia
was too important administratively to the Church to be in line to become
the next pope but, instead, led the way in helping to choose just who was
to assume that position - and possible quick
martyrdom. ]
Or, this may indeed have been the primary site
from which Cyriacus, et al, first met and became
acquainted with the Christian slaves
being marched from Ostia to their work site at the baths. It could
even have been an old bath house given to Cyriacus by
Diocletian. After all, having a bath house for visitors coming to
Rome at a spot where they could clean-up BEFORE making their
entrance to the city makes as much sense then as it does now. A
spot 7 miles outside the city seems as good as any. And, once the
Ostian Way became a route for marching slaves instead of more esteemed
citizens, there would have no longer been a need for the bathhouse as
such. (The Via Portuense on the other side of the river Tiber may
have been the preferred route for non-slave visitors at that time.)
... Alta Semita The next stop
(former convent of St. Stephen) has a footnote indicating that the
"ancient church of St. Cyriacus stood on the Alta
Semita. The site is covered by the modern Ministero delle Finanze."
(1903 reference.) The footnote on the next page also states that "During
the building of the new Ministero delle Finanze, some remains of this
martyr's ancient church were found." The Van der Meer Atlas (1958)
indicates a "Parish church, founded 4th-6th century" between the Alta
Semita, the inside-the-wall portion of the Via Nomentana, and the baths
of Diocletian. Some maps show Via
XX (or Venti) Settembre, instead of Alta Semita and as a continuation
of Via del Quirinale beginning at the Piazza Quirinale.
Another site discusses:
"... the near by nunnery of St. Cyriacus, where Cyriacus's head is kept, that head
has been said, since the time of Gregory IX (1241), to have become red
with blood on the anniversary of the martyr's death, and the reliquary to
have become moist ..." (This apparently is another
convent.)
1450 Via Lata Santa Maria in Via Lata
obtains the "revenues, relics and all"
that's left from the desolate ruins of the buildings on the Corso which had
become a large convent of Benedictine nuns. Pope Nicholas V (1447-55)
is responsible. (The head of Cyriacus was still
there in 1903.) Station St Cyriacus at S Maria in Via Lata
Pius IV, Giovanni Angelo de Medici consecrated the Church of
S. Maria degli Angeli on 5 August 1561. He transferred the
title of Saint Ciriaco to the Baths and enabled the
Carthusian monks to worship here officially. They had occupied a
place in the Church since 1091. ...
The marriage of the Prince of Naples (future king of Italy, Vittorio
Emanuelle III) and princess Elena of Montenegro was celebrated in the
basilica on 24 October 1896. From this point onwards Santa Maria degli Angeli became the official Church
of the Italian State.
In other words, the "official Church of the Italian State" is
the one which also holds the "title of Saint Ciriaco to the Baths" which,
of course, the the primary saint to whom 400
churches in Germany and who knows how many others throughout the
rest of the world are dedicated.
On 20 July 1920 Benedetto XV Giacomo della Chiesa (1914-1922) elevated
the Church to status of a minor basilica with his apostolic letter, “Ad perpetuam rei memoriam. Titulum Sancti Ciriaci in
Thermis...” The ancient church of S Ciriaco was
demolished to make way for the imposing building of the Finance Ministery
in Via XX Settembre." (See above re
Settembre.) [ The ancient church had been demolished long
before 1920 - it was the ruins of the ancient church that were discovered
during the construction of the new Ministry of Finance building in 1874. ]
1662 Via Lata Around 1662, Pope Alexander
VII (1655-67) has the "Lenton Station of S. Cyriacus in
Thermis" transferred to Santa Maria in Via Lata. The church also
possesses the bodies of SS. Largus, Smaragdus and companions, martyrs, and
may other precious relics. (The "S. CIRIACO IN THERMIS"title
is in the index of the Corpus basilicarum book,
but is still a mystery here in Milwaukee because those pages have yet to be
seen in another, good copy of that architectural reference put out by the
Vatican.) Santa Maria, itself, is built upon the ruins of Septa Julia,
the "covered porticoes for the use of the Roman people, begun by Julius
Caesar, and finished by Agrippa in the year 27 B.C." This supposedly was
the traditional site of St. Paul's home-prison in the middle of the 1st
century.
Station St Cyriacus at S Maria in Via Lata - note the Roman
numerals MDCLXII (1662) at mid-right - meaning, maybe, that this structure
was completed and dedicated that year.
1715 Via OstienseSt.
Cyriacus catacomb entered by Boldetti and relics, if any, therein moved. Records are either
lost, never recorded or too controversial for dissemination. This is
probably the place where Pope Marcellus (308~309) moved the relics just before his own death. The validity of the
references to the Alta Semita church site need to be compared to those of
the Via Ostia church site to determine which is to be believed as having
more validity regarding the August 8th, 304 martyrdom. [ Or, whether these are two distinct individuals.
One being at the Baths and the other being the Bishop of Ostia of the same name having been
martyed a half-century earlier. ]
PRESENT DAY Roman sites - Mosaic - Rome:
..., S. Costanza, ... "We have also preserved in the Chigi Library
some mosaic from the catacomb of Cyriacus." (The Chigi Library in Rome undoubtedly has many ancient
artifacts which could aide our research efforts.) Abingdon, Berkshire: RELICS . . . Parts
of these Martyred Saints: ..., Valerian, ..., Cyriacus,
Sixtus, Bishop & Martyr, Christopher, Boniface, ...
The statues of Cyriakus shown above are located in churches throughout
Germany and elsewhere. (The Salzbergen/Emsland picture comes to
us via the pastor of another church in
Gernrode, built in 961 and still there - the latter church being the oldest extant ediface dedicated to St. Cyriacus of
which we are aware.) [ The Cyriakus spelling
with the 'kus' instead of 'cus' ending seems to be associated mostly with
Roman Catholic churches in Germany. There are reportedly more than 400
Catholic or other churches in Germany dedicated to St.
Cyriakus/cus. ]
[ February 28th, 2007 update: Most of the
links found a decade ago are no longer active and have been removed - some
significant text remains -- use that text within Google or other search engines to see if they're
still on the internet somewhere else. ]
8/16/12: Scripta manent blog has an image from a 12th century English manuscript
(of ancient latin martyrologies) that shows Ciriaci in
red. This is the oldest written (versus inscribed in stone) form of
our family name found, so far.
8/7/12: Vultus.StBlogs.org (A Benedictine interpretation should be more
reliable than many others for their extensive and ancient resources.)
3/3/11:
An illuminating and sophisticated site was discovered here - couldn't find details
of a couple of the items that were not already at this web site. It's
and interesting way to tour what's known about a subject but the pop-up
text gets in the way of doing so quickly.
9/8/10: [ This site was originally discovered on
5/10/10 and referenced in the Voragine
translation regarding Carpasius and the public toilet but not here until
'time was found' to do so now. ] On 07/28/2003, Antonio Borrelli submitted a well researched
posting to www.santibeati.it/dettaglio/ entitled, San Ciriaco di Roma.
In it is the following information to our family history project (the translation
from the original italian to english was via Google):
"... created some confusion ..."[ That whole
paragraph confirms what anyone researching this or the other saints in Rome
or elsewhere discovers. ]
"... donated the house to establish a baptismal font and when
Pope Marcello baptize their converts ..." [ The
batismal activity (and thereby the house and probable old bath house across
the street from the new baths construction site that was donated to Ciriaco
where the baptisms occurred) had to have taken place before the FINAL Great Persecution(online)
'formally ' began in February 303. The Pope, therefore, had to be Marcellinus and not Marcellus. ]
"... of the Via Ostiense. Their house assigned initially
Carpasio the prefect, is transformed into a public toilet and later closed
and abandoned. ..."[ public toilet is new ]
"The dates do not coincide, but this is the result of what was
said. In the 'Liber Pontificalis' is reported that Pope Honorius
(625-638) did produce a church in honor of the only s. Ciriaco
and likewise in the biographies of Pope Benedict III Pope Leo III and is
remembered this church, the ruins of this ancient basilica were rediscovered
in 1915 on the Via Ostiense. ..."[ This places
bits and pieces of 'some' information discovered elsewhere all in one place
and provides new names (Popes Honorius, Benedict III and Leo III) on which
to search for more about this church on the Via Ostiense. ]
"The cult of St. Ciriaco in Rome during the Middle
Ages, there was significant diffusion, as shown by the various churches
erected in his honor almost all have disappeared in 817 by Pope Paschal I
the saint's relics were transferred from
the church on the Via Ostiense in Santa Praxedes and later in S. Ciriaco Neuhausen at Worms, and in this part
of Saxony the saint had a great worship
and a whole iconographic tradition. [ This confirms
the movement of the relics and introduces
new information about previously unknown churches in Rome. ]
8/10/10: 1266 Battle of Sulzfeld
... takes place on August 8th and is therefore named after our
Cyriacus at the Baths (of Diocletian).
6/21/10: 14 Holy Helpers School, Gardenville, New York [Webmaster
note: 309 is the year Pope Marcellus translated his remains, along
with those of others, from their martyrdom site nearer to the Baths of
Diocletian - the death probably took place in 304 or 5 years
earlier. ]
4/27/10:
4/27/10: The Der Gnadenaltar page of the "Basilika Bierzehnheiligen" german web site
has a picture of St. Cyriakus/Kyriakos/Dominicus holding the devil (dragon)
on a chain - representing his power over the demon through exorcism
rites. [ Noteworthy is the youthful versus elderly
figure of the saint. We need to get permission to display this picture
here, along with the short prayer associated with him. ]
A listing for November 24th has St. Crescentian of Rome (deadlink
www.erols.com site) dying in 309 "in the company of Saints Cyriacus, Largus, Smaragdus".
Cyriacus at the Baths is a title given to
honored others per the Vox in Excelso - 22 March 1312. It's
included as part of the Council of Vienne 1311-1312 A.D., a portion of
which is quoted here:
"... We empowered and commanded our beloved sons Berengar,
cardinal, then with the title of Nereus and Achilleus, now bishop of
Frascati, and Stephen, cardinal priest with the title of Saint Cyriacus at the Baths, and Landulf, cardinal deacon with the title of saint Angelo, in whose
prudence, experience and loyalty we have the fullest confidence, to make a
careful investigation with the grand master,
...
... Given at Vienne on 22 March in the seventh year of our pontificate."
Bruyn Diokletian und Cyriacus 1532 hist. is a
reference contained at Antikenrezeption in den Gemälden der Alten und der
Neuen Pinakothek.
An impressive list of martyrs from the 3rd century included Cyriacus:
Martyres (74v) | Martyred (Cyriax web site notes):
Stephanus | ?Pope (254~257) or Deacon of 8/6/258?
Linus | ?Pope (67~76) or Pope Marcellinus 8/304?
Cletus | ?Pope (76~88) MISSING POPES:
Clemens | ?Pope (88~97) Fabian (236~250)
Sixtus | 8/6/258 Pope (257~258) Lucius I (253-254)
Cornelius | 253 Pope (251~253) MISSING DEACONS:
Cyprianus | 9/14/258 Bishop (248~258) Gennarius w/Sixtus
Cholomannus | ?8/6/258 Magnus? Agapitus w/Laurence
Georgius | Felicissimus w/Laurence
Laurentius | 8/10/258 Stephen(above) w/Sixtus
Hyppolitus |
Vincentius | 8/6/258
Lambertus | That Smaragdus and Largus aren't on this
Emmeramus | list with Cyriacus hints that it only
Ianuarius | ?/?/304 includes bishops and deacons - not
Kilianus | confessors and priests. It also implies
Mauritius | a reference to Cyriacus'deaconhoodCyriacus | ?/?/304 extant somewhere as yet unfound.
Deacon saints (dead link), in
August, had: 8 Cyriacus, with companions, martyred at
Rome, 304 ...
23 Archelaus, with bishop Quiriacus of
and others, martyr, c 234 (or 250/259?) ...
(98n03: This is the first appearance of a reference to a Bishop of Ostia and lends
credence to my suspicion that there was another
Cyriacus martyred in the middle of the 3rd century about whom we know
next to nothing.)
14 HOLY HELPERS: S Barbara, S Agnes, S Agatha, S
Katharine of Alexandria, S Cyriacus and others; Cyriaca, Cyriacus, Cyricus, Judas Quiriacus et al & Cyriacus (gegen böse Mächte) Unser Bote: Wallfahrtn
& ... Karl A. Neuhausen, "Cyriacus und die Nereiden:
Ein Auftritt des Chors der antiken Meerenymphen in der Renaissance,"
RhM 127 (1984) 174-92 (inactive link)
»Es ist kein Teufel in der Höll, der also heißt«; und weil ich ihn
hierauf geschwind fragte, ob denn einer in der Höll wäre, der Cyriacus hieße? er aber nichts zu antworten wußte, ob er
sich schon klug zu sein dünkte, gefiel solches meinem Hauptmann so wohl,
daß er gleich im Anfang viel von mir hielt. (inactive link)
Papst Cyriacus & S. Quiriacus & Susanna
8. VIII. (mit Cyriacus), 11. VIII. (mit Tiburtius)
(inactive link)