Eulalia, Saint, Martyr

EULALIA, Saint, Martyr. - A Spanish virgin who suffered a cruel martyrdom at Mérida. It is celebrated, with legendary details, by Prudentius (Peristeph., III) and then by Hydatius, by St. Gregory of Tours, and by Venantius Fortunatus. In the Hieronymian Martyrology she is commemorated three days in succession, from December 10 to 12. The true date is the first, that is, the same as that of the calendar of Carthage and of the Mozarabic calendars.

The Passio of E. of Mérida (BHL 2700) is neither ancient nor reliable. According to the testimony of Prudentius, there was at Mérida at the beginning of the 5th century a beautiful church in honor of E.; her relics were also placed in the basilica of Carmona. Her cult spread early and very rapidly: at Béziers in 455 a basilica was erected in honor of the martyrs Vincent, Agnes and E.; at Ravenna she is represented in the series of martyrs in S. Apollinare Nuovo (6th century); in Africa her veneration is attested by a sermon of St. Augustine (De die sanctae Eulaliae, ed. Morin in Miscellanea Agostiniana, I, Rome 1930, pp. 593-95).

From the 7th century there is mention of a St. E. of Barcelona (feast February 12), who seems to be a doublet of the one of Mérida, although some (e.g., Gama and Garcia Villada) maintain the thesis of two Eulalias. The Passio of Barcelona (BHL 2693-96) is legendary. It is probable that some relics of the saint of Mérida, brought to Barcelona and still venerated in the crypt of the Cathedral, later led to the belief in the existence of an E. martyr of Barcelona. Today she is the patroness of the city.

Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina