Lives of the Lady Saints
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Lives of the Lady Saints

FEBRUARY 12. Eulalia of barcelona, whose tortures equaled her years

experiment:

USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO ADDRESS A JURY OF YOUR PEERS. ASK THEM TO ARTICULATE THE WORST TORTURES IMAGINABLE. WHEN YOU REACH 13 UNIQUE TORTURES, SUBJECT YOURSELF TO THEM.
Patron saint of Barcelona, sailors, against drought, against dysentery, boatmen, mariners, pregnant women, for rain, safe sailing, safe seafaring, sailors, travellers, watermen. She is invoked against miscarriage and for or against rain and calm waters.
Lived 290 to 303

Born to a wealthy family, legend has it that Eulalia was a child prodigy. At thirteen, she walked alone to the center of town, and approached Judge Dacian saying "I am Eulalia, servant of my Lord Jesus Christ. I trust him and that is why I came here without fear to contest your conduct, which is the one of an ignorant." By other accounts, she did not approach him but was instead "brought before him."

In Greek, Eulalia means "well-spoken."

THIRTEEN TORTURES
Eulalia endured 13 tortures ("one for each year of her life."). Suffering "only made her stronger." She said, "The wounds don't hurt because God is at my side." These tortures included:

For refusing to recant her Christianity, the Romans subjected her to 
  • Cutting off her breasts
  • Putting her in a barrel of knives or glass and rolling it down a street that was since named "baixada de santa eulalia" (i.e., St. Eulalia's descent)
  • Crucifixion on an X shaped cross ("Judge Dacian ordered the soldiers to hang the young girl's mangled body on a cross, as a warning to the public, so that scavenger birds would come and disrespect her body.")
  • Decapitation, at which point a dove flew from her severed neck.

THIRTEEN GEESE
In an effort to honor the saint in an "ornithological fashion," 13 geese inhabit the cloisters where her remains are buried.

DOUBLE EULALIAS
There is some dispute over whether or not she is the same saint as Eulalia of Merida, who lived from 290 to 304 and withstood a similar bloodbath (both involving miraculous death doves).
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