caption death_date death_place attributes feast_day imagesize venerated_in patronage titles major_shrine image article_title name
statue in halsteren , netherlands 309 ad sabaria , pannonia , roman empire episcopal attire june 4 250px roman catholic church sisak , croatia bishop and martyr basilica , italy of san sebastiano fuori le mura , rome quirinus of siscia.jpg quirinus of sescia
 quirinus of sescia
quirinus of sescia

` quirinus -lrb- -rrb- -lrb- died 309 ad -rrb- is venerated as an early bishop of sescia , now sisak in croatia .
he is mentioned by eusebius of caesarea .
a `` passio '' , considered unreliable , states that quirinus was killed during the persecutions of diocletian after being arrested in 309 .
quirinus had attempted to flee but was imprisoned .
he managed to convert his jailer , named marcellus , to christianity .
after three days , the governor of pannonia prima , amantius , ordered him taken to sabaria -lrb- present-day szombathely , hungary -rrb- , where after attempting to make quirinus abjure his faith , threw the bishop into the local gyöngyös river with a millstone around his neck .
a variant of the legend states that he was `` almost '' killed during diocletian 's persecution of christians : the authorities tied him to a millstone and threw him into a river , but he freed himself from the weight , escaped and continued to preach his faith .
saint florian , another saint associated with pannonia , was also said to have been executed by drowning with a stone tied around his neck .
the `` acts '' of the martyrdom of the saint were collected in writing -lrb- thierry ruinart , `` acta martyrum '' , ratisbon , 522 -rrb- , and a hymn was written in his honour by prudentius -lrb- loc .
cit. , 524 -rrb- .
