Eulalia of Barcelona

Who was Eulalia of Barcelona?

Saint Eulalia, co-patron saint of Barcelona, was a 13-year-old Roman Christian virgin who suffered martyrdom in Barcelona during the persecution of Christians in the reign of emperor Diocletian. There is some dispute as to whether she is the same person as Saint Eulalia of Mérida, whose story is similar.

For refusing to recant her Christianity, the Romans subjected her to thirteen tortures; including:

Putting her into a barrel with knives stuck into it and rolling it down a street.

Cutting off her breasts

Crucifixion on an X-shaped cross. She is depicted with this cross, the instrument of her martyrdom.

Finally, decapitation.

A dove flew from her neck after decapitation. This is one point of similarity with the story of Eulalia of Mérida, in which a dove flew from the girl's mouth at the moment of her death. In addition, Eulalia of Mérida's tortures are sometimes enumerated among the Barcelona martyrs, and the two were similar in age and year of death.

Eulalia is commemorated with statues and street names throughout Barcelona. Her body was originally interred in the church of Santa Maria de les Arenes. It was hidden in 713 during the Moorish invasion, and only recovered in 878. In 1339, it was relocated to an alabaster sarcophagus in the crypt of the newly built Cathedral of Santa Eulalia. The festival of Saint Eulalia is held in Barcelona for a week around her feast day on February 12.