Saint Quirinus of Sescia

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Saint Quirinus of Sescia
Quirinus of Sescia. Statue in Halsteren.
Bishop and martyr
Died	309 AD, Savaria (present-day Szombathely)
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Major shrine	San Sebastiano fuori le mura, Rome
Feast	June 4
Attributes	episcopal attire
Patronage	Sisak, Croatia
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Saint Quirinus (Croatian: Kvirin) (d. 309 AD) is venerated as an early bishop of Sescia, now Sisak in Croatia. He is mentioned by Eusebius of Caesarea.^[1]

A Passio, considered unreliable^[2], states that Quirinus was killed during the persecutions of Diocletian after being arrested in 309. Quirinus had attempted to flee but was imprisoned. He managed to convert his jailer, named Marcellus, to Christianity. After three days, the governor of Pannonia Prima, Amantius, ordered him taken to Savaria (present-day Szombathely, Hungary), where after attempting to make Quirinus abjure his faith, threw the bishop into the Sava River with a millstone around his neck.^[3] A variant of the legend states that he was almost killed during Diocletian's persecution of Christians: the authorities tied him to a millstone and threw him into a river, but he freed himself from the weight, escaped and continued to preach his faith. Saint Florian, another saint associated with Pannonia, was also said to have been executed by drowning with a stone tied around his neck.

The Acts of the martyrdom of the saint are still in existence (Thierry Ruinart, "Acta martyrum", Ratisbon, 522), also a hymn in his honour by Prudentius (loc. cit., 524).

[edit] Veneration

The main well on Krk depicts St. Quirinus.

Local Christians of Savara recovered his body and buried it near the gate known as the “Scarabateus.”^[4]

Upon the incursion of the barbarians into Pannonia at the end of the fourth century and at the beginning of the fifth, his relics were taken to Rome and deposited in a mausoleum or vaulted chamber named Platonica, behind the apse of the Basilica of San Sebastiano fuori le mura on the Appian Way (De Waal, "Die Apostelgruft ad Catacumbas an der via Appia", Rome, 1894).^[5] The "Platonica" was a construction at the rear of the basilica that was long believed to have been the temporary resting place for Peter and Paul, but was in fact a tomb for Quirinus.

His cult became popular, as attested by the Itineraries of the 7th century.^[6]

Some sources state that his relics were translated to various locations, including Milan, Aquileia, and the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome.^[7] His relics may have also been carried to Tivoli, explaining the existence of a cult to Saint Quirinus of Tivoli, who may or may not be the same saint.^[8]

A church is dedicated to him at Jesenovik.

His feast is observed on June 4.