Cyricus and his mother Julitta are venerated as early Christian martyrs. According to traditional stories, they were put to death at Tarsus in AD 304.
Some evidence exists for an otherwise unknown child-martyr named Cyricus at Antioch. It is believed that the legends about Cyricus and Julitta refer to him. There are places named after Cyricus in Europe and the Middle East, but without the name Julitta attached. Cyricus is the Saint-Cyr found in many French toponyms, as well as in several named San Quirico in Italy. The cult of these saints was strong in France after Amator, Bishop of Auxerre, brought relics back from Antioch in the 4th century. It is said that Constantine I discovered their relics originally and built a monastery near Constantinople, and a church not far off from Jerusalem. In the 6th century the Acts of Cyricus and Julitta were rejected in a list of apocryphal documents by the Decretum Gelasianum, called as such since the list was erroneously attributed to Pope Gelasius I.
According to one version of their martyrdom, Julitta and her three-year-old son Cyricus had fled to Tarsus and were identified as Christians. Julitta was tortured and Cyricus, being held by the governor of Tarsus, scratched the governor's face and was killed by being thrown down some stairs. Julitta did not weep but celebrated the fact that her son had earned the crown of martyrdom. In anger, the governor then decreed that Julitta's sides should be ripped apart with hooks, and then she was beheaded. Her body, along with that of Cyricus, was flung outside the city, on the heap of bodies belonging to criminals, but two maids rescued the corpses of the mother and child and buried them in a nearby field. This version is recorded in a letter from Theodore of Mopsuestia to Pope Zosimus and in the Acta Graece Sincera.
An alternative version of the story is found in Latin, Syriac, and Arabic. In this version, Julitta is captured without Cyricus and brought before the governor. She refuses to sacrifice to idols and tells him to find a child, so that they can ask him if he thinks it is right to worship one god or many. Cyricus is found and he declares himself to be a Christian. The governor inflicts many tortures on them, all of which they miraculously survive. Satan enters Julitta's heart, causing her to be afraid of death, but Cyricus emboldens her with encouragement and prayers. The mother and child are finally decapitated.
A story from Nevers states that one night Charlemagne dreamed he was saved from being killed by a wild boar during a hunt. He was saved by the appearance of a nude child, who had promised to save the Emperor from death if he would give him clothes to cover his nakedness.
The bishop of Nevers interpreted this dream to mean that he wanted the Emperor to repair the roof of the Cathédrale Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte de Nevers.
The cult of "St. Giric" was formerly much more widespread in Celtic Britain, however. His feast day was one of the principal Welsh holidays, as codified by the laws of Hywel Dda.
There are a few churches in England dedicated to Saints Cyricus and Julitta, including Newton St. Cyres in Devon, Tickenham in Somerset, Swaffham Prior in Cambridgeshire and St Cyr’s in the town of Stonehouse in Gloucestershire- of which the grandfather of the notorious pirate “Blackbeard” was the vicar.
In Cornwall, they can be found in the villages of Luxulyan and St Veep, and there was also once a chapel at Calstock dedicated to these two saints. In Wales there is a least one church dedicated to the saints, in Llanilid, but named as St. Ilid and St. Curig.
In Croatia, in the Town of Višnjan, there is an 18th-century loggia and the church of Saint Cyricus (Kirik) and Julitta (Julita) dating from the 19th century.
Cyricus or Qirqos (ቂርቆስ), also known as Qurqos or Č̣ǝrqos/Č̣ärqos, is a popular saint in Ethiopia and Eritrea, along with Julitta (ኢየሉጣ, ʾIyäluṭa). His feast is celebrated on the 15th of the month of Ṭərr (ጥር). Many churches in Ethiopia and Eritrea are named after Qirqos and Ethiopic texts on him include Täʾamrä Qirqos ("Miracles of Qirqos"), Mälkʾa Qirqos ("Image of Qirqos") and Sälam lä-Qirqos ("Salutation to Qirqos"). His Gädlä Qirqos ("(Spiritual) Combat of Qirqos", which would be known as a passio in the Western Church) is included in many Ethiopian manuscripts digitized by the Ethio-SPaRe project, including:
ʿAddi Qolqwal Giyorgis: 1 MS (Gädlä Sämaʿtat, 16th century)
Koholo Yoḥannǝs: 1 MS (Gädlä Sämaʿtat, 15th century)
Mǝdrä Ruba: 1 MS (19th century)
Qǝddus Qirqos: 2 MSS (19th century)
Qändaʻro Qirqos: 1 MS (20th century)
ʿUra Qirqos: 4 MSS (14th/15th, 19th, 18th, 20th century; 1 MS Gädlä Sämaʿtat)
Wälwalo Qirqos: 1 MS (19th century)