Saint Rouhan
or Saint Cyriacus
Rouhan
is the Syriac
name for Saint Cyriacus who was called "the
spiritual one" -- in Syriac, Rouhana.
He was born
at Corinth in the year 446 and became a monk
in Palestine under the direction of Saint
Euthymus. He became the superior of his
monastery and was a model for all because of his
piety, wisdom and exhortations. He died at
the age of 108. Certain Maronite calendars refer
to him as Rouhana, "the
cantor." Many churches and monasteries in Lebanon
are dedicated to
him. |
Saint Cyriacus, or
Cyriac, is a Christian martyr who was killed in
the persecution of Diocletian. He is one of twenty-seven
saints, most of them martyrs, who bear this name,[1]
of whom only seven are honoured by a specific mention of
their names in the Roman Martyrology
Life
Of the Saint Cyriacus
who, together with Saints Largus and Smaragdus
and others (of whom Crescentianus, Memmia and Juliana
are mentioned in the Roman Martyrology), is venerated on
8
August, all that is known with certainty, apart
from their names and the fact of their martyrdom, is
that they were buried at the seventh milestone of the
Via Ostiensis on that date.[3]
However, legend has it that Cyriacus was a Roman
nobleman who converted to Christianity as an adult and,
renouncing his material wealth, gave it away to the
poor. He spent the rest of his life ministering to the
slaves who worked in the Baths of Diocletian. Under the
reign of Western Roman Emperor Maximian, co-emperor with
Diocletian, Cyriacus was tortured and put to death,
beheaded in 303 on the Via Salaria, where he was
subsequently buried. With him were martyred his
companions Largus and Smaragdus, and twenty others,
including Crescentianus, Sergius, Secundus, Alban,
Victorianus, Faustinus, Felix, Sylvanus, and four women:
Memmia, Juliana, Cyriacides, and Donata.[4]
Saint Cyriacus is credited with exorcizing demons
from two girls. The first was Artemisia (or Artemia),
the daughter of Emperor Diocletian, which resulted in
both Artemisia and her mother Saint Serena converting to
Christianity. The second was Jobias, the daughter of
Shapur I of Persia (reigned 241-272), which led to the
conversion of the King's entire household. He was bishop
of Acona, Italy
Veneration
The Tridentine Calendar
included the feast day of Cyriacus, Largus and Smaragdus
on 8
August as a Semidouble. In 1955 this rank was
lowered to that of Simple.[5]
The 1960 Calendar, included in Pope John XXIII's Roman
Missal and thus the calendar whose continued use
privately and, under certain conditions, publicly is
authorized by the motu proprio Summorum
Pontificum, reduced their celebration to a
Commemoration. Since 1969 they are not included in the
General Roman Calendar, but, as saints whose names are
in the Roman Martyrology, they are proposed for
veneration in the whole of the Catholic
Church.
 |
Stained-glass image of St
Cyriacus (right). St Pantaleon is on the left.
Weitnau |
Saint Cyriacus is
venerated as one of the Fourteen Holy
Helpers.
It is claimed his relics
were moved to Santa Maria in Via Lata in Rome, and the
abbey of St Cyriaque in Altorf in Alsace.
The Church of "Saint
Cyriacus in the Baths of Diocletian" (Latin: "Sanctus Ciriacus in Thermis
Diocletiani"), was dedicated to this martyr,
a former titulus church. The "tituli" were
commonly named after their patron, often a lay patron in
the early centuries: "Cyriac" in Greek signifies
simply "patron." This "titulus," to which
a cardinal was assigned, whatever its claimed second or
third century origins, existed certainly in the fifth
century, when Marcianus was cardinal priest of the title
of S. Ciriaco alle Terme di Diocleziano in 494, at the
time of Pope Gelasius I. The titulus was suppressed in
1477 by Pope Sixtus IV in favor of Saints Ciro and
Giulitta. In 1493, Pope Alexander VI restored the name
of S. Ciriaco. The title was definitively suppressed in
1587 by Pope Sixtus V, who assigned a titulus of Sts
Quirico e Giulitta to Cardinal Ferdinando de'
Medici.[6]
There were monasteries
dedicated to St Cyriacus in the now destroyed Arab
village of Majdal Yaba in Israel and the existing
village of Al-Fasayil near Jericho. The residents of
both these villages venerated him during the Byzantine
era.
On St Cyriacus' feast
day, 8
August 1899, a category four hurricane made
landfall on the island of Puerto Rico and was named
after him. It was known as the Hurricane San
Ciriaco.
-
Antonio
Borrelli, "San Ciriaco di Roma"
-
Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice
Vaticana 1969 ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
-
Calendarium
Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 133
-
Alban Butler, "The
Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal
Saints" (J. Duffy, 1866), p. 123
-
General
Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII
-
This history of
the "titulus" follows Salvador Miranda, "The
Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church," s.v. "St.
Gelasius I (492-496)"; "Annuaire Pontifical
Catholique," 1926
|