Saint Eulalia
Child Martyr (290-304 AD)
Saint Eulalia was a native of Emerita, the capital of Lusitania (modern Mérida in Spain). The daughter of Christian parents, descended from one of the most prominent families in Spain. She was educated in her childhood by a very holy priest of that city, and was taught the sentiments of perfect piety. From her infancy she distinguished herself by an admirable sweetness of temper, modesty and devotion.
She showed a great love of the holy state of virginity; by her seriousness and her contempt of dress, ornaments, diversions and worldly company, she gave early signs of her sincere desire to lead a heavenly life on earth. Her heart was raised above the world before she was thought capable of knowing it, so that its amusements, which usually fill the minds of youth, had no charms for her, and every day of her life she continued to grow in virtue.
She was but twelve years old when in AD 304 the bloody edicts of emperor Diocletian were issued. All citizens were required to avow faith in the Roman gods. Since she seemed determined to defy the decree requiring worship of the gods, her mother hid her at a home in the countryside. However, Eulalia slipped off at night and the very next morning, after much fatigue, arrived at Merida before daybreak. She fearlessly confronted the judge, standing before the cruel Calpurnianus, representing the viceroy of Diocletian, she professed herself a Christian. She reproached him for attempting to destroy souls, by compelling them to renounce the only true God, insulted the pagan gods and emperor, and challenged the authorities to martyr her.
According to the Spanish-Roman poet Prudentius of the fifth century, who devoted book 3 of his Peristephanon (“About martyrs”) to Eulalia, she said: “Miserable men, for the Christians you search! Lo, I am one of that odious race, foe to your fiendish idolatrous rites. Witness to Christ with my heart and lips, under my feet I will trample your gods. . .”
The governor then commanded her to be seized. First, employing caresses, Dacian presented to her the advantages which her birth, youth and fortune gave her in the world, and the grief which her disobedience would bring to her parents. Seeing that these temptations had no effect, he began to threaten her, placing the most dreadful instruments of torture before her eyes, saying to her, “All this you shall escape if you will but touch a little salt and frankincense with the tip of your finger.”
Provoked by these seducing flatteries, our Saint threw down the idol before her, and trampled upon the cake placed there for the sacrifice.
At the judge’s order, she was stripped by the soldiers who intended to make her walk naked in streets to humiliate her, but then a dense fog covered Merida to prevent her from being seen. Two executioners tore her tender sides with iron hooks, so as to leave the very bones bare, then tortured her with burning torches, and dragged her by her hair to the site of execution. She said to the cruel persecutor, Calpurnianus, look well at me so that you may recognize me on the day of the Final Judgment, when both of us will appear before Jesus Christ, our common Lord, I to receive the reward of my torments, and you, the chastisement of your inhumanity toward the Christians. She was covered with hot coals; the fire caught in her hair and surrounded her head and face, and she suffocated amid the smoke and flames, and as she expired a dove flew out of her mouth. This frightened away the soldiers and allowed a miraculous snow to cover her nakedness, its whiteness indicating her sainthood.
The persecutor commanded that her body be left untended for three days, but Providence covered her body and the surrounding soil, which seemed to whiten it and give it a marvelous beauty, for several days. Since then, on each anniversary of her martyrdom, mists flood Merida for several days.
As Prudentius tells it:
“Forthwith two slaughterers seized her. When the executioners touched flames to her wounds, Eulalia’s hair caught fire and she was burned alive. Prudentius says that as she died a miraculous sign of her innocence amazed the onlookers. Then of a sudden a snowy-white dove Springs from the martyr and flies Forth to the stars in the sight of the crowd. It was Eulalia’s innocent soul, winging its way to celestial heights. Snow fell, covering Eulalia’s remains until the Christians buried them nearby.” Later, to mark the spot where she died, they constructed a church that became a popular shrine for pilgrims. Augustine, Jerome, and Venantius Fortunatus wrote about Eulalia, establishing her fame. And the earliest known French poem celebrated her courageous sacrifice.
The Christians buried Saint Eulalia in Merida and a shrine over her tomb was soon erected. Veneration of Eulalia was already popular with Christians by 350 AD; relics from her were distributed through Iberia. Bishop Fidelis of Merida rebuilt a basilica in her honor around 560 AD. Her shrine was the most popular in Visigoth Spain. In 780 her body was transferred to Oviedo, Spain, by King Silo. It lies in a coffin of Arab silver donated by Afonso VI in 1075, placed in a chapel dedicated to her memory, within the large church. In 1639, she was made patron saint of Oviedo.
Many graces have been received when her relics are transported in processions in times of public necessity.
[1] “Saint Eulalia – Lives of the Saints,” Magnificat, 24 February 2016. [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_eulalia.html. [Accessed 25 November 2017].
[2] “Eulalia of Merida,” Wikipedia, [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eulalia_of_M%C3%A9rida. [Accessed 25 November 2017].
[3] “Saint Eulalia of Merida,” Loyola Press, [Online]. Available: https://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/saints/saints-stories-for-all-ages/saint-eulalia-of-merida. [Accessed 25 November 2017].
[4] “St. Eulalia of Merida,” Catholic News Agency, [Online]. Available: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=79. [Accessed 25 November 2017].
[5] “Dec 10 – St Eulalia of Merida,” Catholic Ireland, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.catholicireland.net/saintoftheday/st-eulalia-of-merida-d-304-virgin-martyr/. [Accessed 25 November 2017].
[6] “The Mists of the Martyr: The Legend of Saint Eulalia,” L’Aqua, [Online]. Available: http://www.laquaroutes.com/mistsmartyr/. [Accessed 25 November 2017].