Cyriacus of Ancona
| Saint Cyriacus of Ancona (Judas Cyriacus) | |
|---|---|
Martyrdom of St. Quirico. Barcelona, 12th century
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| Martyr and Bishop of Ancona | |
| Died | 360 AD |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Canonized | Pre-congregation |
| Major shrine | Cathedral of San Ciriaco, Ancona, Italy |
| Feast |
May 4 (Roman Catholic Church) October 28 (Eastern Orthodox Church) |
| Patronage | Ancona, Italy |
May 4 (Roman Catholic Church)
Judas Cyriacus (Cyriacus of Ancona, Cyriacus of Jerusalem, Quiriacus, Quiricus, Kyriakos) (Spanish: Quirico, Italian: Ciriaco) (d. ca. AD 360) is the patron saint of Ancona, Italy. His feast day is celebrated in the Catholic Church on May 4.
He is said to have been the bishop of Ancona who died or was killed during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He is also misidentified with Bishop Judas Cyriacus of Jerusalem (Saint Cyriacus of Jerusalem), who was killed during a riot there in 133 AD. His feast is celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on April 14. (The 2nd century Bishop Judah Kyriakos of Jerusalem is said to the last in the desposynic line for that post, his predecessors also being descendents from the Family of Jesus. This meant that '2nd century' Judah Kyriakos was the last Christian Bishop of Jerusalem who happened to still have Jewish origins.)
The local tradition of Ancona has identified this saint with the Jew named Judas Quiriacus or Kyriakos.
According to legend, the Jew Judas Kyriakos aided the Empress Helena in finding the True Cross, which had been buried at Golgotha 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".
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