Judas Cyriacus (Cyriacus of Ancona, Cyriacus of Jerusalem, Quiriacus, Quiricus, Kyriakos); , ), d. ca. AD 360, is the
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
of
Ancona
Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. His
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...
is celebrated in the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
on 4 May.
Judas Cyriacus, Bishop of Ancona
Judas Cyriacus was the
bishop of Ancona
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...
who was killed during a pilgrimage to the
Holy Land
The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...
. His feast is celebrated in the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...
on
14 April
Events Pre-1600
*43 BC – Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum.
* 69 – Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho in ...
.
(Judas Cyriacus of Ancona is often confused with the legendary Bishop
Judah Kyriakos of Jerusalem (''Saint Cyriacus of Jerusalem''), who was killed during a disturbance there, in 133 AD. The 2nd century Bishop Judah Kyriakos of Jerusalem is said to the last in the
desposyni
The brothers of Jesus or the ''adelphoi'' () are named in the New Testament as James, Joses (a form of Joseph), Simon, and Jude; unnamed sisters are mentioned in Mark and Matthew. They may have been: (1) sons of Mary, the mother of Jesus ...
c line for that post, some of his predecessors being descendants from the family of Jesus.)
Judas Cyriacus and the True Cross
Judas Cyriacus by ">Palma il Giovane
The local tradition of Ancona has identified this saint with the
Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
named Judas Quiriacus or Kyriakos.
According to legend, a Jew Judas Kyriakos aided the Empress
Helena
Helena may refer to:
People
*Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer
* Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places
Places
Greece
* Helena ...
in finding the
True Cross
According to Christian tradition, the True Cross is the real instrument of Jesus' crucifixion, cross on which Jesus of Nazareth was Crucifixion of Jesus, crucified.
It is related by numerous historical accounts and Christian mythology, legends ...
, which had been buried at
Golgotha
Calvary ( or ) or Golgotha () was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, Jesus was crucified.
Since at least the early medieval period, it has been a destination for pilgrimage. ...
after the crucifixion. The oldest extant
Syriac text of the legend of the discovery of the True Cross by Judas Kyriakos dates from c. 500 AD. Its recent editor and translator says that the manuscript is "of great value for the history of the legend of the ''inventio crucis''".
Sozomen
Salamanes Hermias Sozomenos (; ; c. 400 – c. 450 AD), also known as Sozomen, was a Roman lawyer and historian of the Christian Church.
Family and home
Sozoman was born around 400 in Bethelia, a small town near Gaza, into a wealthy Christia ...
(died c. 450 AD), in his ''Ecclesiastical History'' states that it was said (by whom he does not say) that the location of the
Holy Sepulchre
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The church is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Some ...
was "disclosed by a Hebrew who dwelt in the East, and who derived his information from some documents which had come to him by paternal inheritance" (although Sozomen himself disputes this account) and that a dead person was also revived by the touch of the Cross. Later, popular versions of this story state that a Jew who assisted Helena was named Jude or Judas, but later converted to Christianity and took the name Kyriakos (kyriakos means "lordly" or "lord-like" in Greek).
Among the three accounts about the discovery of the True Cross that circulated throughout the Roman Empire in the 4th century, the two most widely repeated both credited Helena, the aged mother of
Constantine the Great
Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...
, who travelled to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
at her son's request. To recover it, it was necessary to demolish a temple, perhaps dedicated to Venus, that occupied the site. In one, Judas knew of the location of the Cross; he had been the recipient of that secret knowledge which was handed down the paternal line of his family, and revealed it under torture. As J. W. Drijvers, the editor of the text, has noted,
The story of Judas Kyriakos originated in Greek, but became also known in Latin and Syriac and later on in many vernacular languages. This version relates how Helena discovered the Cross with the help of a Jew named Judas, who later converted and received the name Kyriakos.
The martyrdom of Judas Cyriacus
After assisting Helena with the finding of the True Cross, Judas Cyriacus was baptized, consecrated as bishop of Jerusalem, and
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...
ed during the persecutions of
Julian the Apostate
Julian (; ; 331 – 26 June 363) was the Caesar of the West from 355 to 360 and Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplatonic Hellenism ...
, which would place his death in the 4th century. Another saint, named
Saint Cyriacus
Cyriacus (, fl. 303 AD), sometimes Anglicized as Cyriac, according to Christian tradition, is a Christian martyr who was killed in the Diocletianic Persecution. He is one of twenty-seven saints, most of them martyrs, who bear this name, of whom ...
, died during this century, and there may have been confusion between the two saints.
In the ''Acts'' of his martyrdom, at first written in Greek and then translated in Latin and Syriac, he engaged in dialogue with the emperor Julian and, along with his mother Anna, was described as being subjected to horrible torments.
The
Empress Galla Placidia is said to have presented Ancona with the
relics
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...
of Judas Cyriacus. However, the saint's head was located at
Provins
Provins () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. Known for its well-preserved medieval architecture and importance througho ...
.
Henry I of Champagne
Henry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters
* Henry (surname)
* Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone
Arts and entertainment ...
brought it from
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
and built a church in this town to contain it. This still stands as the Saint Quiriace Collegiate Church, although construction work during the 12th century was never completed due to financial difficulties during the reign of
Philippe le Bel
Philip IV (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called Philip the Fair (), was King of France from 1285 to 1314. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre and Count of Champagne as Philip I from 1 ...
. A
dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
was added in the 17th century, and the old families of Provins who lived in the upper town were called "Children of the Dome."
Cathedral of San Ciriaco
Monte Guasco, in Ancona, the location of the
Duomo
''Duomo'' (, ) is an Italian term for a church with the features of, or having been built to serve as a cathedral, whether or not it currently plays this role. The Duomo of Monza, for example, has never been a diocesan seat and is by definitio ...
is dedicated to Saint Judas Cyriacus. It is said to occupy the site of a temple of
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
, who is mentioned by
Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus (; ), known as Catullus (), was a Latin neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic. His surviving works remain widely read due to their popularity as teaching tools and because of their personal or sexual themes.
Life
...
and
Juvenal
Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ; 55–128), was a Roman poet. He is the author of the '' Satires'', a collection of satirical poems. The details of Juvenal's life are unclear, but references in his works to people f ...
as the
tutelary deity
A tutelary (; also tutelar) is a deity or a Nature spirit, spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept ...
of the place.
It was consecrated in 1128 and completed in 1189. Some writers suppose that the original church was in the form of a
Latin cross and belonged to the 8th century. An early restoration was completed in 1234. It is a fine
Romanesque building in grey stone, built in the form of a
Greek cross
The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Jesus, Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a crucifix and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...
, with a dodecagonal dome over the center slightly altered by Margaritone d'Arezzo in 1270.
The body of Cyriacus lies prostrate and visible in his tomb.
See also
*
Saint Judas Cyriacus, patron saint archive
References
*, ''The Finding of the True Cross: The Judas Kyriakos Legend in Syriac. Introduction, Text and Translation'', 1997.
External links
* Edward Bickersteth Birks (Esq., M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, son of
Thomas Rawson Birks
Thomas Rawson Birks (28 September 1810 – 19 July 1883) was an English theologian and controversialist, who figured in the debate to try to resolve theology and science. He rose to be Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at the Universit ...
). ''"CYRIACUS (6)".'' In:
Willian Smith and
Henry Wace. '
A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines Volume 1: A-D. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1877. Page 757.
Catholic Online: St. Judas Cyriacus a full list of contemporary sources is included
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cyriacus, Judas
360 deaths
4th-century Christian martyrs
4th-century executions
Byzantine saints
People executed by the Roman Empire
Year of birth unknown