Saint Eulalia of Mérida

Eulalia was a Christian girl of Augusta Emerita, today Mérida in Spain, who was about twelve when the persecution of Diocletian began. According to the ancient hymn of the Spanish poet Prudentius, she slipped away from her family's country house and went to the judge to profess her faith openly. She refused to offer sacrifice to the gods and was put to death around 304. Tradition says a white dove was seen rising from her body and that snow fell to cover her.

She is the patron of Mérida, and her relics were taken to Oviedo, whose cathedral honors her. She was one of the best-loved martyrs of early Christian Spain, and many churches in Spain and Latin America bear her name.