St. Cyrian is known as the patron saint of magicians – outside of official Catholic doctrine that is! Theomagica.com has gone through some of the published literature on this archetypal mage in anticipation of Rubedo Press’ publication of Cypriana:Old World and culled 10 academic facts about him. The first two would be:
“(1) The literary tradition of Cyprian and Justina is originally based on three different versions of the story by three different authors. The first one tells Cyprian’s conversion to Christianity and is mainly focussed on Justina and her immense spiritual powers granted to her due to her strict piety. The second story centres on St.Cyprian’s repentance; it begins as a speech of the remorseful mage and later turns into a first-person account of his tale. The third one focusses on the famous martyrdom that both the saint and Justina had to undergo, which is not mentioned in either the first or second version of the legend.
