Curig (Quiricus)

Curig is the subject of a late medieval Welsh poem and Welsh Life, which link his cult with Llangurig in Montgomeryshire, and refer to his torture and martyrdom as a child. The poem and the appendix to the Life refer to a hermit and a nun living at Llangurig, who come into conflict with Maelgwn Gwynedd. As a result Maelgwn is struck blind before being cured as a result of prayers to the saint. The poem is a prayer to Curig requesting the restoration of the poet's sight. The earliest reference to the cult of Curig in Wales is Gerald of Wales' late twelfth-century reference to his cross-headed staff, which was kept as a relic not far from Llangurig at St Harmons (Montgomeryshire).

As an international saint, Curig/Quiricus is not found in the Welsh genealogies, although by the eighteenth century it was increasingly assumed that Curig was in fact a more native figure, who came to Wales and founded churches at Llangurig and Capel Curig. Lewis Morris describes his landing at Aberystwyth and journey inland to Llangurig, and subsequent writers, including H.W. Lloyd and Baring-Gould and Fisher, concluded that this original story of Curig had been confused with or obscured by the cult of Quiricus during the course of the Middle Ages.

Curig is described as guardian of the men of France in the medieval poem. The prevalence of the cult of Quiricus and his mother Julitta in the coastal areas of France and in Cornwall makes it likely that their cult was introduced to Wales in the medieval period, either by the Normans or perhaps much earlier. In Brittany he was known as Kirik, and Browne Willis records dedications to him as Kirig.