Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/302

288 288 ST. EULALIA under Diocletian. On hearing of the glories of the confosBors and martyrs, she determined to share them ; and when Calpnrnius was sent to Merida to exter- minate Christianity in that part of Spain, her mother, dreading her rashness, took her into the country to be out of the way of dangers. EulaUa, however, haying persuaded one of her servants, named Julia, to adopt her views, they fled by night to Merida. On the way thither, Julia could hardly keep up with her young mistress, and said to her, '* Your eagerness to get beforo me is in vain ; I shall be the first to receive the martyr's palm." And so it happened. They arrived at Merida at daybreak, and found Calpumius, or Dacian, as he is called in the Spanish legend, sitting in the forum persecuting the Christians. Eulalia at once began to revile him and the emperor, and to ridicule the idols and all who believed in th6m. '' Child," said the envoy of the emperor, <* do you know to whom you are speaking ? " Eulalia answered that she knew well who he was, and how great were his folly and his wickedness. The envoy still had pity on her. He showed her the instruments of torture prepared for those who obstinately resisted the emperor's authority, at the same time telling her that if she would but offer a little salt and incense to the gods, no one should molest her further, and no more questions should be asked. Ealalia threw down the idol, trampled the offer- ings under her feet, and spat in the face of the judge, an action which most of her biographers apologize for and excuse on account of her youth. Calpumius ordered Julia to be beheaded at once, and Eulalia to be tortured. After many dreadful sufferings, she was condemned to be burnt alive. The flames quickly reached her hair, which was all about her shoulders, and she was suffocated. At the moment of her death, a white dove was seen to fly out of her mouth and ascend to heaven. She was ordered to be hung on a high cross, to be eaten by the birds ; but a fall of snow covered her entirely, and kept her body safe and fresh for three days, until the Christians buried it near the place of her martyr- dom. FrudentiuB, who was bom in Spain, 348, mentions St. Eulalia in his poems. B,M, Vega. Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art. Neale. Butler. Watson, Cmdnum, p. 109, men- tions that the earliest work in vemacnlar French is a poem of the 9th century on the martyrdom of St. Eulalia. A slightly different version of the legend is given by Bibadeneira in Flos Sanctorum, St. Eulalia (2), Feb. 12, Dec. 10 (Alausia, Aulaibe, Aulaye, Aulaize, AULAZIE, OCGILLE, (ElLLE, OlACIE, OlA- iLLE, Olaibe, Olaise, Olalla, Ouillb), V. of Barcelona. M. 304. Patron of Barcelona. She was brought up a Chris- tian in or near Barcelona, and was cruci- fled on the rack in the same persecution in which St. Eulaua of Merida was martyred. She is titular saint of many churches, and gives her name to sever^ villages in the south of France. Two families of the ancient noblesse of France take their names from her — Sainte- Aulaire and Sainte-Aulaye. Her story is often confused with that of Eulalia of Merida; but they are distinguished by the tradition of the Spanish churches, by the Mozarabic missal, and by all the old martyrologies of Jerome, Usuard, etc. BM. Butler. St Eulalia (3), or Eqphebua (10), March 30, V. M. AA.SS. B. Eulalia (4), May 11, V., was a Cistercian nun, who showed great devo- tion to the Virgin Mary, and repeated the angelic salutation very often every day. The B. V. Maby appeared to her one night, and said she was pleased with her devotion. ''But," she added, " if you wish to gratify me, do not say the angelic salutation so fast, for it gives me most pleasure when you say ' Domi' nuts tecum' slowly and devoutly." So Eulalia was very happy and gratefuL She redoubled her devotion, and was led to a great height of sanctity by the patronage of tlie Virgin, and died in peace. Bucelinus. St. Eulampia^ Oct. lo. M. with her brother, St. Eulampius, in the perse- cution under Maximian. They were natives of Nicomedia,and fled with a nam • ber of other Christians to the mountains*