HERMENEGILD, Saint, Martyr. — Son of the Visigothic king Leovigild, he married in 579 Ingunda, daughter of Sigebert, king of the Franks. Because of his wife’s Catholic faith, his father was forced to banish him from the court and sent him to Seville, where, through the efforts of Bishop Leander, HERMENEGILD himself also embraced Catholicism. A conflict arose between father and son; in 582 HERMENEGILD was defeated and exiled to Valencia, then imprisoned in a jail at Tarragona where, in 585, for refusing to receive Communion from an Arian bishop, he was killed by order of his father. In 585 Sixtus V granted Spain permission to celebrate his feast, which Urban VIII later extended to the whole Church. He is commemorated on April 13.
Bibl.: St. Gregory the Great, Dialogues, III, 21 (PL 77, 380-391; cf. ed. by U. Morica, Rome 1924, pp. XXXIX-XXII); St. Gregory of Tours, Hist. Francorum, V, 39; PL 71, 333-342; Paul the Deacon, Hist. Langobard., III, 21; PL 93, 323-321; Acta SS. Aprilis, II, Paris 1865, pp. 135-138; Z. García-Villa, Historia ecclesiastica de España, II, Madrid 1932, pp. 237-241; Anal. Bolland., 51 (1933), pp. 411-413; Martyrologium Romanum.