Max Erwin Cyriacus
25 January 1839 ~ 18 September 1901
The members of the Cyriacus
branches of the family now living in the
Leipzig area may have sprung from Erfurt and/or
Magdeburg. It's Magdeburg which holds the
distinction of hosting the oldest
referenced edifice named in honor of St. Cyriacus in
Germany - the Cyriacus chapel (St.
Stephanskapelle) of circa 780/781.
It's also a city where members of the Leipzig branch(es) had relatives in the past. Others, among their ancestors were Deacons, with the last name Cyriacus, just like the revered Deacon St. Cyriacus at the Baths!
Note that Werner Ciriacks of Berlin found references to Michael, born in 1623, under both the Cyriax and Cyriacus spellings. That could be a clue to tying in this branch to those in the Erfurt area to the southwest of Leipzig.
The fact that St. Cyriacus was a martyr under Roman emperor Diocletian has been established previously. However, part of St. Cyriacus ' popularity in Germany according to Werner Ciriack dates back to 1046 when Kaiser Heinrich III brought from Italy the arm of St. Cyriacus. This relic apparently went to a convent named after the saint in Strassburg in Elsass (Alsace). St. Cyriacus, one of the 14 holy helpers, was especially popular from Hessen to Thüringen (now in East Germany) and in Alsace and the Rhein River area. One early German version of the name was Cyliax.
The Stadtarchiv** in Erfurt (East Germany) found a 1493 mention of Elsa Celiax as its earliest record of any name like Cyriacks. Werner Ciriack traced his family back to Veit Celiax, who died May 18th, 1602 in Kunitz. Michael Cyriax, 1581-1638, one of Veit's eight children, was Werner's next relative.
Another Michael Cyriax (or Cyriacus ), born in 1623 in Kunitz, was a currier/driver and died in 1678 in nearby Naumburg. Kunitz is on the Saale River and is a suburb of Jena (East Germany). There is a Cyriaks church in this area.
Johann Christoph Cyriax, born 1690 in Naumburg, is the next relative following Michael that Werner knew about. He was a belt master and had a large family of 7 to 10 children in Naumburg.
Johann Gottfried Ciriack, 1798-1867, a clothes maker born in Reichenbach in Vogtland, "Mitteldeutschland," was the last name Werner Ciriack listed. Note how the name "Celiax" in the 1500s and very likely originating from the popular saint's name, became Cyriax in the next generation. Then several generations later in the 180Os, the spelling is Ciriack *** This variation in spelling was also seen in North Germany. In the same church in Daverden near Bremen, the name varied from Ciriacs to Cirjacs, Cyriacs, Ciriaks, Cyriaks, Ciriacks, Cyriack, and finally Cyriacks (the latter two from the church in nearby Achim.
Website link/location/URL: http://www.Cyriac-FHP.com/leipzig.htm
