CIRO and GIOVANNI, saints, martyrs. — Very scant are the biographical details concerning them. According to the legendary Passio, C. was a physician in Alexandria; having become a monk, he was killed during the persecution of Diocletian together with the soldier G., a native of Edessa. Their bodies were in the basilica of St. Mark in Alexandria when, in the first half of the 5th century, St. Cyril transferred them to Menuthis to oppose a Christian sanctuary to the temple of Isis, whose cult was deeply rooted among the people.
In the 6th century the sanctuary of Menuthis became famous for the pilgrimages and healings performed there by C. and G., anárgiri (v.) was attributed. An interesting collection of 70 miracles was composed in the 7th century by Sophronius of Jerusalem. The relics of the two martyrs were later transported to Rome and placed in a small church on the Via Portuense, which, through a singular popular alteration from Abbaciro, is today called S. Passera; four other very ancient churches in Rome were dedicated to the two martyrs.