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Being very special for having been associated with sustaining the ancient,
illegal Church, the TITULI are assigned to the highest
executives of the faith, the Cardinals, as we refer
to them now; and to the most esteemed and highest ranking episkopos (or bishops), as they were referred to before the term Cardinal came to designate their unique ranking within the newly
organizing church. That the TITULUS S. Cyriaci in
Thermis is one of the most highly regarded TITULI in
the Church is evidenced by its being associated with one of the three
Cardinals chosen to prepare the highly SECRET
Chinon Parchment (that secretly absolved the Grand Master and other
leaders of the Knights Templar in 1308); being bestowed upon the Archbishop
of Canterbury and being associated with the oldest Catholic churches in
Italy and America.
The TITULI were 'formally' developed after Emperor Constantine issued the
in 313
legitimizing Christianity as an officially recognized religion. As a
result, the Emperor returned 'TITLE' to the newly recognized
and reorganizing CHURCH those properties to which they could lay legitimate
claim. In many cases, those sites had been given to the 'illegal'
Church at the time the owner converted it into a Christian meeting
site. The 'illegal' Church couldn't 'legally' claim TITLE before the Edict of Milan and many, if not all of them (in
Rome, anyway) were destroyed during the decade long FINAL Great Persecution of Emperor Diocletian, who had 'legally'
confiscated them before 304 AD. That 'legal' confiscation by
Diocletian is what gave Constantine the similarly 'legal' authority to do
with them as he pleased, so he did. (See the excellent Life of Constantine by his contemporary Eusebius for more
about the confiscation and return of confiscated properties to Christian
owners and the Church.)
The various 'official' TITULI are detailed at the Cardinal - Catholic Encyclopedia - Catholic Online site under
I. CARDINAL-PRIESTS:
... twelfth century ... statement of Johannes Diaconus in the sixteenth
chapter of his work ...:'Cardinales Sanctę Marię Maioris sunt ii: SS. Apostolorum, S. Cyriaci in Thermas, S. Eusebii, S. Pudentianę, S.
Vitalis, SS. Marcellini et Petri, S. Clementis. Cardinales Sancti Petri sunt
ii: S. Marię Transtiberim, S. Chrysogoni, S. Cęcilię, S. Anastasię, S. Laurentii in Damaso, S. Marci, SS.
Martini et Silvestri. Cardinales Sancti Pauli sunt ii: S. Sabinę, S. Priscę,
S. Balbinę, S. Balbinę SS. Nerei et Achillei, S. Sixti, S. Marcelli, S.
Susannę. Cardinales Sancti Laurentii sunt ii: S. Praxedis, S. Petri ad
Vincula, S. Laurentii in Lucina, S.
Crucis in Jerusalem, S. Stephani in Cęliomonte, SS. Joannis et Pauli, SS.
Quattuor Coronatorum.' The eldest of these cardinal-priests acted as
their head: he was known as archipresbyter, and was the chief and
immediate assistant of the pope at all ecclesiastical functions; from the
twelfth century he was known as prior cardinalium presbyterorum. And,
at the same site under
IV. CARDINALITIAL DIOCESES, TITLES, AND DEACONRIES
The cardinalitial titles are as follows: S. Lorenzo in Lucina, ..., S. Bernardo alle Terme,
..., S. Calisto, S. Cęcilia, ..., S.
Maria degli Angeli, ..., SS. Quirico
e Giulķtta, .... The cardinalitial deaconries are: S. Maria in Via Lata,
..., S. Maria in Dominica,
.... There are, therefore, in all, seventy-five churches (6 + 53 + 16)
disposable for the three orders of cardinals. And since, as a rule,
the cardinals number less than seventy, there are usually several churches
without any cardinal. ...
The S. Cyriaci in Thermis TITLE has been bestowed upon
leading Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church over the centuries.
Those of whom we are aware, so far, are:
- 11/26/1994~10/1/2007 - Cardinal
, Archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland USA. [ Yet another connection to this webmaster is that Father Keeler
spent more than half his career in the Diocese of Harrisburg - Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania is the town from whence almost all of my fellow U. S. Navy
recruits came in June 1960 bootcamp San Diego. ]
- 1587 - Cardinal Ferdinanco de' Medici - once again assigned to Sts Quirico e Giulitta; this
time by Pope Sixtus V (see year 1476 below)
- 5 August 1561 - the TITULUS S. Cyriaci in Thermis
is now assigned to the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri alle Terme di Diocleziano
di Roma [ aka Lady of the Angels and Basilica dedicated to
the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the angels and to the Christian slaves who died
building the Baths
of Diocletian in Rome (9 Via Cernale at Piazza della
Republica). ] The Basilica (and baths remains) are situated
behind the very large Ministry of Finance building facing the Via XX Settembre. Both are
situated atop the former Baths of Diocletian (good pictures) and ancient
Church of San Ciriaco at the
Baths locations.
Italy (source, except 1540 & 1504)
- 1542 - Pomponio Cecci - SS.
Quirici et Julittae
- 1540 - Reverendissimo Domino D. Petro
Bembo, tituli Sancti Cyriaci In Thermis Presbytero
Cardinali, the full TITLE in Italian.
- 1514 - Bernardino Maffei - SS.
Quirici et Julittae
- 1504 - 'Peter, ur the Reverend "in Sancti Cyriaci Thermis"
czimü Roman Church also bibornoka presbyter'
(Péter fotisztelendo ur a "Sancti
Cyriaci in Thermis" czimü római egyhįznak szintén presbyter bibornoka)
per a document prepared on behalf of King ??? of Hungary (source in
hungarian)
- 1493 - titulus restored to
S. Ciriaco by Pope Alexander VI (see year 1476 immediately below)
- 1476 - Francesco Cornaro - SS.
Quirici et Julittae
According to this source alternative the "titulus was suppressed in 1477 by Pope Sixtus
IV in favor of Saints Ciro and
Giulitta" restored in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI and suppressed
yet again in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V [in favor of Sts Quirico e Giulitta when bestowed upon
Cardinal Ferdinanco de' Medici.])
- ???? - Gregorio Cortesi - SS.
Quirici et Julittae
(end Italy)
- 1465/1473~4/6/1486 -
(UK source) and the LibraryOfCongress search returns another United Kingdom web site with:
... The wardens
ask the priory to present Nicholas to Thomas [Bourchier], cardinal-priest
of St Ciriac in Thermis, archbishop of
Canterbury and papal legate.
- early 15th century -
declined the TITULUS and honour.
- 1308 - Étienne
de Suisy, cardinal priest of St. Cyriac in
Thermis per the actual Parchment of Chinon at the Vatican site;
but the
names Stephanus as one of the three most revered Cardinals of the Church
appointed (by Pope Clement V) to investigate and prepare this just now
released 700 year old historical, (formerly) secret and controversial
document.
- 942 -
- 772~844 - The
mentions the 'in Thermis' TITULUS being
assigned to various Cardinals appointed during the lives of Popes Hadrian
(772-795), Leo III (795-816) and Gregory IV (827-844).
- 494 - Marcianus, cardinal priest of the title of S.
Ciriaco alle Terme di Diocleziano - (source).
- (3?? ~ 361 - possibly Saint Judas
Cyriacus, Bishop of Ancona, the first to be assigned this Titulus, along
with the honor of taking the name, Cyriacus, of the earlier
saint being honored by and associated with the titulus.)
See our local Martyrology
file for the 'official' and semi-official information we have on this
individual.
Notable for NOT being among the Cardinals having the S. Cyriaci in Thermis TITLE bestowed upon him is Pietro Ciriaci
(1885-1966) whose biography has (click his name-link to go to the
source web site):
- Birth. December 2, 1885, Rome, Italy. Son of Giuseppe Ciriaci and Maria Giuggiolini Magnaterra. ...
- Episcopate. ... Consecrated, March 18, 1928, basilica of
S. Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome, ... assisted by Carlo Cremonesi,
titular archbishop of Nicomedia, secret almoner of His Holiness, ...
- Cardinalate. ... Participated in the conclave of 1958, which
elected Pope John XXIII. Attended the Second Vatican Council,
1962-1965. Participated in the conclave of 1963, which elected Pope
Paul VI. Opted for the title of S Lorenzo in Lucina, September 26, 1964.
- Death. December 30, 1966, .... The funeral took place on
January 3, 1967, in the basilica of S.
Lorenzo in Lucina, presided by Pope Paul VI.
- Bibliography. (see the web site for much more.)
LINKS (needing investigation or translation):
Inscriptiones insularum maris aegaei
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