Quick Facts
Biography
Saint Quirinus of Tegernsee, or Quirinus of Rome (not to be confused with Quirinus of Neuss, also sometimes called Quirinus of Rome), is venerated as a martyr and saint of the third century.
According to one tradition, he was beheaded during the reign of Claudius Gothicus (268-70). His corpse was thrown into the Tiber and later found at Tiber Island. Quirinus was, according to another legendary account, the son of Philip the Arab.
According to the legendary Acts of the martyrs Saint Maris and Saint Martha, a Roman martyr Quirinus (Cyrinus) was buried in the Catacomb of Pontian. However, the Itineraries to the graves of the Roman martyrs do not mention him.
His legend was later connected with Tegernsee Abbey in Bavaria, where his relics had been translated in the eighth century, during the reign of King Pippin and Pope Zacharias. However, Quirinus' relics may have been translated instead during the papacy of Pope Paul I (term 757-767), around 761.
Veneration
His feast is celebrated on March 25. Perhaps this Quirinus is meant by the expression "Romæ sancti Cyri" found in the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" of March 24 (cf. "Acta SS.", III, March, 543 sqq.; Dufourcq "Les Gesta martyrum romains", I, 240).
Quirinus' cult flourished from its center at Tegernsee, and a larger stone church was built in 1450 to house his coffin.