Saint Leocadia

Leocadia was a young Christian woman of Toledo, in Spain, at the beginning of the 4th century. During the persecution of Diocletian the governor Dacian had her arrested and mistreated to make her deny her faith. She refused and was returned to prison, where, according to tradition, she died on December 9, around 304, after tracing a cross on the wall of her cell. A basilica was built over her tomb, where several councils of Toledo were held in the 7th century.

According to a beloved Toledo tradition, she appeared to Saint Ildephonsus at her tomb, and he cut a piece of her veil, which is kept in the cathedral. Her relics, carried abroad during the Middle Ages, returned to Toledo in 1587 in the presence of King Philip II.