Eulalia of Mérida

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

runaways; torture victims; widows; inclement weather^[1]

Eulalia of Mérida (

James, son of Zebedee, Eulalia was invoked as the protector of Christian troops in the Reconquista and was patron of the territories of Spain during their formation.^[4]

Hagiography

Saint Eulalia, by John William Waterhouse, 1885, Tate collection.

Eulalia was a devout Christian

Peristephanon

("About martyrs") to Eulalia, she said:

Isis Apollo Venus nihil est,
Maximianus et ipse nihil:
illa nihil, quia facta manu;
hic, manuum quia facta colit

(Isis, Apollo and Venus are nothing,
Maximian himself is nothing;
They are nothing, because they were made by hands,
He, because he reveres the works of hands)

Eulalia was then stripped by the soldiers, tortured with hooks and torches, and burnt at the stake, suffocating from smoke inhalation. She taunted her torturers all the while,^[a] 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.

A shrine over Eulalia's tomb was soon erected. Veneration of Eulalia was already popular with Christians by 350;

Alfonso VI in 1075. In 1639, she was made patron saint of Oviedo.^[7] She appears in Thieleman J. van Braght, Martyrs Mirror: An account of Those who Suffered in the Fourth Century (1660).^[8]

Julia of Mérida

Often linked with Eulalia is Saint Julia of Mérida, as in the double dedication to Saints Eulalia and Julia. Julia is also said to have been a young girl martyred at Mérida in 304, in the same persecution by Diocletian, and her feast day is also celebrated on 10 December.[9]

See also

Saint Eulalia of Mérida, patron saint archive
Sequence of Saint Eulalia – French hagiography from 880

References

Notes

^ Eulalia signifies "well-spoken", an attribute of orators.

Citations

^ Patron Saints Index Archived 2006-10-24 at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b ^c Collins 1998, p. 199.
^ Haliczer 2002, p. 236.
^ "CULTO, ORIGEN Y DIFUSIÓN. EULALIA DE MÉRIDA PALADÍN DE LA RECONQUISTA, PATRONA DE LAS ESPAÑAS" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
^ ^a ^b Dietz 2005, p. 258.
^ Dietz 2005, p. 171.
^ Sculpture of SANTA EULALIA DE MÉRIDA from Oviedo.es website (in Spanish)
^ "An Account Of Those Who Suffered In The Fourth Century".
^ "Saint Julia of Merida". Archived from the original on 6 November 2014.

Sources

Blackburn, Bonnie J.; Holford-Strevens, Leofranc (2000). "10 December". The Oxford Book of Days. Oxford: University Press.
ISBN 978-0-19-866260-0
.

Collins, Roger (1998). Spain: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. Oxford: University Press.
ISBN 978-0-19-285300-4
.

Dietz, Maribel (2005). Wandering Monks, Virgins, and Pilgrims: Ascetic Travel in the Mediterranean World, A.D. 300-800. Pennsylvania State University Press.
ISBN 978-0-271-02677-0
.

Haliczer, Stephen (2002). Between exaltation and infamy: Female mystics in the Golden Age of Spain.
ISBN 0-19-514863-0
.

External links

EULALIA of Merida from catholicforum
Butler's Lives of the Saints – Saint Eulalia of Mérida from catholicforum
Saint Eulalia at the Christian Iconography web site

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