Eulalia of Barcelona
Teenage virgin martyred by crucifixion on an X-shaped cross.
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Eulalia of Barcelona was a 13-year-old Roman Christian virgin martyred in Barcelona during the Diocletianic persecution. She is a patron saint of Barcelona, though there is dispute whether she is the same person as Eulalia of Mérida.
History
Eulalia was the daughter of a noble family living near Barcelona. When governor Dacian arrived to enforce persecutions under Diocletian and Maximian, she left home, entered the city, and publicly confronted him.
Dacian ordered her stripped and tortured by methods including flagellation. She prayed for death and died from her wounds. Tradition holds that her tortures culminated in crucifixion on an X-shaped saltire cross, though it has been suggested she was tortured to death on an X-frame and left on display, later interpreted as crucifixion.
Veneration
Eulalia's remains were first laid to rest in what was then called Santa Maria de les Arenes, later renamed Santa Maria del Mar. During the Moorish takeover in 713, the body was concealed and not rediscovered until 878.
In 1339, the remains were placed inside an alabaster sarcophagus located in the crypt of the newly constructed Cathedral of Santa Eulalia. Her feast day, February 12, is marked by a week-long celebration throughout Barcelona. Statues and street names honor her memory, including Baixada de Santa Eulàlia, the street where tradition says she was rolled downhill in a barrel filled with broken glass.
More in People Executed by Crucifixion
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Eulalia of Barcelona (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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