Among the three accounts about the discovery of the True Cross that circulated throughout the Roman Empire in the 4th century,[citation needed][dubious – discuss] the two most widely repeated both credited Helena, the aged mother of Constantine the Great, who travelled to Jerusalem at her son's request.
In one, Judas knew of the location of the Cross; he had been the recipient of that secret knowledge which was handed down the paternal line of his family, and revealed it under torture.
It became the most popular version of the three.After assisting Helena with the finding of the True Cross, Judas Cyriacus was baptized, consecrated as bishop of Jerusalem, and martyred during the persecutions of Julian the Apostate, which would place his death in the 4th century.
In the legendary Acts of his martyrdom, at first written in Greek and then translated in Latin and Syriac,[5] he engaged in dialogue with the emperor Julian and, along with his mother Anna, was described as being subjected to horrible torments.
This still stands as the Saint Quiriace Collegiate Church, although construction work during the 12th century was never completed due to financial difficulties during the reign of Philippe le Bel.
It is a fine Romanesque building in grey stone, built in the form of a Greek cross, with a dodecagonal dome over the center slightly altered by Margaritone d'Arezzo in 1270.