EULALIA, saint, martyr. – A Spanish virgin who suffered a cruel martyrdom at Mérida. It is sung, with legendary details, by Prudentius (Peristeph., III), and subsequently by Hydatius, St. Gregory of Tours, and Venantius Fortunatus. In the Hieronymian Martyrology she is commemorated on three consecutive days, from 10 to 12 December. The true date is the first, that is, the same as that of the Carthaginian calendar and the Mozarabic calendars.
The Passio of E. of Mérida (BHL 2700) is neither ancient nor reliable. According to the testimony of Prudentius, at the beginning of the fifth century there was at Mérida 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 among the ranks of the martyrs in S. Apollinare Nuovo (sixth 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 seventh century onward, mention is made of a St. E. of Barcelona (feast 12 February), who seems to be a duplicate of the one from Mérida, although some (e.g., Gama and Garcia Villada) maintain the thesis that there were 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, subsequently gave rise to the belief in the existence of an E. martyr of Barcelona. Today she is the patron saint of the city.