Born in Campania, Italy, St. Kyriake was martyred in 272-3 and according to the Constantinople Synaxarium, is celebrated with her martyred parents, St. Dorothea and St. Eusebius, on 6th July. In an appendix of sources for the Book of Painters from Mount Athos, St. Kyriake is numbered among the highly revered group of saints, known as the Anargyroi, who offered their healing services free of charge. Following torture under Maximian, St. Kyriake was tried and condemned to death by decapitation. Her body was widely believed to have been transported by angels to Tropea in Calabria, where she was particularly venerated. She is sometimes referred to by the latinised name of St. Domenica.

Frescoes of St. Kyriake in Imperial dress, dating from the 11th to 13th Centuries, adorn the walls of the rock caves of Göreme and elsewhere in Cappadocia. Churches dedicated to the martyr are also to be found in various parts of southern Italy.