Church Santi Quirico Giulitta - Siena

During Diocletian's persecution, in Iconium, a city in Lycaonia (now in Turkey), Julitta, a wealthy and noble woman, who was a widow and had a son, Quirico. After leaving her city and her possessions to escape persecution, she descended with her maidservants to Seleucia. However, she thought it wise to travel on to Tarsus, in Cilicia, where she was rounded up by the Roman governor Alexander and arrested with her child on charges of being a Christian. Subjected to long interrogations to make her suffer, refusing to sacrifice to the gods, she confessed her faith. According to legend, Alexander held the child on his knee. Quirico, seeing his suffering mother and hearing her words, said he too was a Christian and was thrown to death by the governor. The mother, though petrified with pain, remained steadfast in her faith. After excruciating torture, she was handed over to the executioner to be beheaded. According to another account, the two were burned alive, but their bodies miraculously remained intact. The martyrdom of the youngest Christian martyr with his mother is dated around 304.

Willem Vandenameele