Saint Eulalia of Barcelona

According to the tradition of the Church of Barcelona, Eulalia was a girl of about thirteen from a Christian family of the city who died as a martyr around 304, during the persecution of Diocletian. When the governor Dacian arrived to force Christians to sacrifice to the Roman gods, she went before him to defend her faith and refused to offer incense to idols.

The traditional account says she suffered thirteen tortures, one for each year of her life, and was finally crucified on an X-shaped cross. Some historians think her story may echo that of Saint Eulalia of Mérida, but her cult in Barcelona is very ancient. In 878 her relics were found and placed in the cathedral, and since 1339 they have rested in an alabaster tomb in the crypt beneath the high altar of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia.

Barcelona celebrates the Festes de Santa Eulàlia, its winter festival, around February 12, with giants, human towers called castells, fire runners and children's events. Thirteen white geese are kept in the cathedral cloister, one for each year of her life.

She is co-patroness of the city with Our Lady of Mercy, and her name is especially loved in Catalonia.