Saints Quiricus and Julitta

Quiricus was a little boy and Julitta was his mother. They probably died in 304, and theirs is one of the oldest and most often told stories of the Church. About forty different versions of the acts of their martyrdom are known, and most of them contain fanciful episodes: as early as the middle of the fourth century someone was already complaining about it. The first serious investigation was made by Bishop Theodore of Iconium, at the urging of Bishop Zosimus: he cleared the story of the added elements, relying on direct testimony and documents, and what came out of it is the version scholars still consider the most reliable. It has reached us through his Letter to Zosimus. According to that text, Julitta was a widow from a well-to-do family in Iconium, in Asia Minor. When the persecution began she fled with her son, who was three, and two servants. She was recognized in Tarsus and brought before the governor Alexander. The rest is a scene that is still hard to read today. The child, held in the arms of the governor, who was trying to calm him, wriggled free, repeating the words he had heard from his mother. The governor, irritated, hurled him to the ground. Julitta was killed shortly afterward. In the West they are remembered on June 16, in the East on July 15. In Italy the name Quirico survives above all in Tuscany, where San Quirico d’Orcia bears his name. If your name is Quirico or Giulitta, today is your name day.