Eulalia (c. 290 – February 12, 303), co-

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, was a 13-year-old Roman Christian

virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

who was

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

ed in Barcelona during the

persecution of Christians The persecution of Christians can be historically traced from the first century of the Christian era to the present day. Christian missionaries and converts to Christianity have both been targeted for persecution, sometimes to the point of ...

in the reign of emperor Diocletian (although the

Sequence of Saint Eulalia The ''Sequence of Saint Eulalia'', also known as the ''Canticle of Saint Eulalia'' (french: Séquence/Cantilène de sainte Eulalie) is the earliest surviving piece of French hagiography and one of the earliest extant texts in the vernacular langue ...

mentions the "pagan king" Maximian). There is some dispute as to whether she is the same person as

Eulalia of Mérida Eulalia of Mérida (Augusta Emerita in 292 - Augusta Emerita 10 December, 304) was a young Roman Christian martyred in Augusta Emerita, the capital of Lusitania (modern Mérida, Spain), during the Persecution of Christians under Diocletian. O ...

, whose story is similar.

History

Eulalia, age thirteen, was the daughter of a noble family that lived near the city of Barcelona. Amid the persecutions under Diocletian, governor Dacian arrived in the city intent on enforcing the decrees. Sometime later, Eulalia left her home, entered the city and confronted the governor for his merciless persecution of Christians. Unable to dismiss the eloquent arguments of a young girl, Dacian soon had Eulalia stripped nearly naked and flagellated, which was followed by bloodier

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...

s that were not to cease unless she admitted the error of her ways. Resisting to the end, she prayed that God would take her to Heaven, and died of her wounds."Virgin Martyr Eulalia of Barcelona", Orthodox Church in America
/ref> A dove is supposed to have flown forth from her mouth following her death. Then, a sudden snowstorm covered her body like a garment. It is traditionally believed that her tortures culminated in her crucifixion on an

X-shaped cross A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type. The word comes from the Middle French ''sautoir'', Medieval Latin ''saltatori ...

, and she is depicted with this cross as the instrument of her martyrdom. However, it has been posited that she was instead publicly tortured to death on an X frame and her body left on display, artistic depictions of this leading to the later belief that she was crucified.

Veneration

There are a number of similarities with the description of the martyrdom of

. Her body was originally interred in the church of Santa Maria de les Arenes (St. Mary of the Sands; now Santa Maria del Mar, St. Mary of the Sea). It was hidden in 713 during the Moorish invasion, and only recovered in 878. In 1339, it was relocated to an

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...

sarcophagus in the crypt of the newly built

Cathedral of Santa Eulalia The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia ( ca, Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia), also known as Barcelona Cathedral, is the Gothic cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The cathedral was constru ...

. The festival of Saint Eulalia is held in Barcelona for a week around her feast day on February 12.Festes de Santa Eulàlia
from Barcelona municipal website Eulalia is commemorated with statues and street names throughout Barcelona. For example, Eulalia is traditionally believed to have been placed in a barrel with shards of glass and rolled down the street named ''Baixada de Santa Eulàlia'' ("Saint Eulalia's descent").

References

External links

St. Eulalia of Barcelona
from the

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

Saint of the Day, February 12: ''Eulalia of Barcelona''
at ''SaintPatrickDC.org'' *

at the Christian Iconography web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Eulalia Of Barcelona Catalan saints Saints from Hispania Christian child saints Spanish children 290 births 303 deaths Burials at Barcelona Cathedral 4th-century Christian martyrs 3rd-century Roman women 4th-century Roman women People executed by crucifixion Christians martyred during the reign of Diocletian

History

Veneration

See also

References

External links