Saint Eulalia

Saint Eulalia

   The cathedral in Melapudur, Trichy is adorned with the paintings of many martyrs. The church is now demolished and a new cathedral is being built in that place. Though the new cathedral is a masterpiece, still but the paintings in the old cathedral are lost forever. No one can ever bring back those lively paintings, which will speak to the onlookers as they glance at them. One of the saints depicted in that painting is saint Eulalia. She was born in 290 BC in Merida of Spain. She was awarded the title of martyr at the age of thirteen.

During this time, a wretched monarch named Diocletian ruled the Roman Empire. Since the Roman Empire was so vast, he had appointed three officials under him to help him. Accordingly Caesar Maximian took charge of Spain, Portugal, France, and England as a representative of Diocletian. The rigid rules and regulations brought in by Diocletian brought great disaster to the Christians and the Jews. According to the rule, all the citizens of the cities which belonged to the Roman Empire, whether it is a male or female, people of all ages, old people, young and even children should accept the ruling king as their god and also accept the roman gods as their gods and do fire worship. This they will have to do once in every year in front of all those who are gathered so as the show that they do not worship any other gods. Only then they will be given roman citizenship.

If anyone fails to abide by this rule, then whoever it could be, irrespective of their status in the society, or their wealth or name or fame, all their property will be taken over by the government and the person will be tortured and put to death. Christianity was banned in the country. All Christians were considered as untouchables and were put to death. The city of Merida in Spain, where our dear saint lived was a roman colony and hence this rule was in force in that city also. Many Christians were cruelly chased like dogs and killed mercilessly. Many were secret Christians and lived a hidden life. On behalf of Caesar Maximian, Kalpurninian was the governor of Merida. He was an old and notorious tyrant. There were no traces of mercy or humanity in this governor’s heart.  The torments of Christians reached great heights during the times of kalpurininian.

One day………

  Our dear saint Eulalia was sleeping in her mother’s arms and her mother started to speak to her. Her mother said, “My dear daughter Eulalia….. As I see you my heart leaps with joy. You are the most beautiful gift in my life. I have never seen this kind of a beautiful girl in all my life. Though I can’t see your soul I can very well see your outer beauty which is beyond words could describe. Though I am quite proud of your beauty, at the same time I am scared of the same. I fear that your beauty will become your enemy at some point of time.” 

  As she spoke a tear rolled down her cheeks and fell on Eulalias cheeks. Eulalia looked up at her mother and said, “I don’t understand the meaning of this tear mother. I am quite surprised at this. you were the one who taught me all about Jesus Christ, you kindled my faith in this true god. You were the person who introduced the Holy Spirit to me and taught me all about the power and might of Holy Spirit. Now where has your courage gone mother? 

   As you taught me in the Holy Scriptures, “When the Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” so why do you fear mother? You have fed me with courage and I am not a coward. Why should we worry so much of tomorrow? Tomorrow will take care of its own worries. Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Have you not read this in the Bible? So leave aside all your fears and be peaceful. Just live the present moment.”

  He mother said, “My dear daughter Eulalia, you can give me enough and more bible verses, but you can’t convince my troubled heart. You will never understand what is haunting me. I don’t know for myself why my heart is so much troubled today. For many generations we are the citizens of Rome. If not today, very soon our governor will call us to stand before the public to renew our citizenship. You know what we have to do in order to keep up our citizenship. We have to deny Christ and accept the king and the roman gods as our god. That is impossible since we are now devotes of the only true god Jesus Christ. I am not worried about your father or me, even if we are to be killed. But I am worried a lot about you my dear child. If you were to stand before the king… if he sees you and your beauty…. I don’t know what would happen to you… I can’t even imagine it my child” so saying she cried bitterly.

  Right then there was a knock on the door. Eulalia’s mother opened the door. Few roman soldiers stood at the door step and informed them that they have their turn the next day to renew their citizenship. They have to assemble as a family in the amphitheater by 10 o’clock the next morning. If they failed to do so, all of them would be arrested and handed over to the government. On hearing this Eulalia’s mother looked at her as a sign of saying that all that she feared has come true so soon. As Job mentions in the Bible, “what I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.”

  Eulalia’s mother’s fears came true. She sent away the soldiers. Once they had gone she urged Eulalia to go to her uncle’s house in Barcelona and stay there safely. She said, “Flee dear child, feel immediately to your uncles house in Barcelona. Stay there and be safe. Do not worry about me or your father. Our almighty God will take care of us. By god’s grace we will meet in heaven. Do not delay, leave immediately.” So saying she hugged her daughter and shed tears.

   Eulalia replied, “My dear mother, from my birth you have been with me in all walks of my life. As we were together in life so we will be in death. Do not ask me to go away like a coward. I am brave enough to face anything that might come my way. I am not afraid to meet death. I will encounter it and my almighty Lord Jesus Christ will give me the sufficient strength to do so.” 

   Her mother panicked and said, “My dear child, you don’t know what it is to die as a martyr. It is the worst thing a person could undergo. You are a beautiful girl….. If you are to stand before the king….. You will be tortured of your virginity… you will be made to stand naked…. Oh and all that would follow…. No my dear child it is not easy…. That pain is more than physical pain…. I will never allow it to happen to you… go now, immediately and be safe.” Eulalia could not argue anymore and so she packed her things and left to her uncle’s house. The dreaded morning dawned.

  The Roman amphitheater in the city of Merida was filled with huge crowd, all those who had come to renew their citizenship. The governor and all the people of the city were present there and the place was overflowing with people. Many of the Christians had come along with their family to deny Christ and worship the king and the roman gods. In this way many of the Christians safeguarded their life and their belongings.    The next in list was the name of Eulalia’s parents. By that time the governor was very tired of seeing this formal renewal of citizenship. He said, “Why the day is so dull???? There is not one to deny our gods and go for torture. There is not a single Christian to fulfill the blood thirst of my roman god. I never expected this…. my gods are disappointed…..” Right then Eulalia’s parents came forward. The governor’s eyes widened with excitement for he already knew a lot about Eulalia and her beauty. He asked them, “Oh so you are the proud parents of Eulalia….. Where is your daughter that great beauty of this world? I know all the details of your family….”

  The hearts of Eulalia’s parents thronged with fear and they did not know what to reply for this question of the governor. They stood still and speechless. The governor proceeded further and asked, “I will take care of your renewal later. First call your beautiful daughter… I want to see her offer sacrifice to my gods….. Where is she? Call her here immediately” at that moment something which no one expected happened.    Eulalia’s parents were startled to hear a voice shout out, “Here I am”. The owner of the voice was none other than Eulalia. Her parents were greatly troubled to hear her and when she appeared in front of them, he mother was terrified to see her. She burst out into tears and shouted out, “you foolish girl… why did you come here? Who asked you come here? Are you so mad enough to take such a foolish decision? How did you gain confidence to face this trial? Oh my Lord why am I still alive…. I can’t bear to see the tortures my child will have to undergo….. I beg you my Lord… save my child… save my child…. I give her into your hands…. Save her my Lord….” he mother cried so bitterly thinking that her tears will mover the heart of God and He will save her daughter from the torments. 

   But she did not know that God had indeed brought her there to make her stand as a witness for him and glorify His name. Her mother fainted and fell down unconscious. The governor commanded the soldiers to take her parents away and put them in prison.

  He now turned to Eulalia and said, “Young girl, come in front of the crowd and renew your oath… I will ask the same from your parents later….” Eulalia came before the crowd. The whole amphitheater was silent. Eulalia said, “Respected governor, my Lord has taught me in his Holy Scriptures ‘Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.’ I will keep up his words. I will give the due respect which I have to give to you and our king. But I will worship accept Jesus Christ only as my God and will never accept anyone or any other god as my god. For if I accept any other god, then it is against the faith of my religion which says, ‘I am the lord thy god and thou shall not have strange gods before me.’ So I will not worship your king or your roman gods.”

The governor’s eyes glared with joy and excitement. “Oh so are you a Christian?” asked the governor. 

   “Yes I am a Christian and I am proud of it” replied Eulalia. 

  The governor just spoke all that his heart told him stating, “Oh dear Eulalia, the moment I came to know about you and your extraordinary beauty, my heart leaped in joy. I am now a slave of your beauty.

    Don’t you know that Christianity is banned in our country? There are so many religions and why is it you want to follow this banned religion? By following this all you gain is pain and suffering. You have great beauty and wealth; you can have a happy life. Instead why do you choose this suffering at this young age? It is not too late my dear, you still have time to think and tell your wish. 

  If you say yes, I am ready to marry you… or if you don’t like me as your partner, you can marry anyone else in this country… I will arrange for your marriage immediately… just think of that romantic, peaceful married life…. If not you will have to undergo the official punishment… what do you say young lady. Just see for yourself, so may Christians have come here with their family and denied their god and accepted and worshiped the king and roman gods. They have safeguarded their belingings, citizenship and life. Why are you refusing to do this? Come on do not hesitate. What do you say???? Why are you still hesitating, go on and tell me what is that which is so great about your religion”

   Eulalia gave a sarcastic smile and said, “a peacock is ugly among a crowd of crows…. That is exactly the status of my religion in your this place. You who follow the religion which teaches you to lie, commit adultery, kill, plunder, worship idols and so on, will never understand or appreciate the religion which teaches love, that is to love even your enemies, humility, truth, patience etc., so there is no point in explaining to you all about my religion. As it is said, do not throw pearls in front of pigs… I can’t explain anything to you who has already made up your mind not to listen to any of the teachings of Christianity. So why do you want to waste your time in unnecessary questions. Just like how you have strongly decided not to accept Christianity, I too have very strongly decided not to deny my Lord Jesus Christ. So go on with your proceedings.”

   The governor said, “Stop your preaching. I don’t want to hear it anymore. Just tell me once for all what is your decision? Will you accept our king and our roman gods as your god or not? Hit the nail on the head and do not beat about the bush.” 

   Eulalia said, “sorry to say, but it is you who is beating about the bush. I have very clearly and firmly expressed my wish in front of all those who are gathered here. I think I was loud enough and the language which I am speaking is a familiar one. Let me tell it aloud once again now listen to it carefully. I will never deny my Lord and savior Jesus Christ. I will never accept your king and your roman gods as my god forever. Even if it to risk my own life.”

    In spite of all this insult, the governor was patient because of his lust for the beauty of Eulalia and tried out all possible ways to make her surrender to him. So he still kept up his patience and said,

    “Dear Eulalia, calm down. Do not be in a hurry. Just a word from you is enough for me to set you free or to put you to death immediately. I have all the authority to do so. But I am so concerned about your life. I don’t want you to suffer. Just listen to me, this last advice of me. You need not do anything else but just take a pinch of salt with that small finger of yours and throw it on my god. That is sufficient; I will announce that you have shown your respect and worship for our roman gods. Just do this for me and I will take care of the rest. I will set you free and I will also release your parents. I promise this on my god. Please think and say…”

   Eulalia, though a small young girl, clearly understood the heart of the governor and said boldly,

  “Stop this honey soaked lies of yours. Did you think that it is easy for you to device me with your lies just because I am a small girl? I warn you not to do it anymore. You can’t flatter me or win me to your side. I know all your thoughts and intentions. My lord Holy Spirit who lives in me reveals all about you. He who is in me is greater than he who is in this world, and that includes you too. I am not an ordinary girl who longs for money, jewels, luxurious life or even romance. I am from a good family and I give a lot of importance for virginity, purity, holiness, love and kindness and above all fear of the Lord. So stop playing with me. I consider my life and all that I own as nothing for the love of my lord. The love of my lord is more than all the gold and silver of this world which you can bestow on me. All this power and authority of yours will fade away one day, people will forget you soon…. Not even a dog will stand by your side… all this will be there with you as long as you have life in your body, if your spirit leaves your body; you are just a dead body, a heap of flesh and bones. But I will live forever, even after death and I long for that only. I know this world and I know the truth also. The Spirit of Truth which dwells in me will strengthen me and lead me further as always. Go ahead and do whatever you want. I have decided to lose my life so that I will gain it heaven.”    Eulalia did not stop here. She went ahead and kicked off the platform of the roman god. She threw away the bread basket and the fruit basket which was kept there to offer sacrifice to the roman gods.

  This aggravated the anger of the governor to a large extent. In his rage he yelled out saying,

    “This small girl has insulted me in front of this crowd. I will teach her a lesson. Let this be a lesson for all those who dare to speak up against me. Guards catch hold of her and tie her to the pole. I will give her the punishment which is the worst punishment ever given.”

    According to the governors words Eulalia was stripped off her garments and was made to stand naked. But she did not lose her courage. She looked up boldly at the governor and said,

   “You coward Kalpurninian, I give you the last chance for you to look at me. Register my face in your mind clearly. For you will never ever get a second chance to see me hear after. I had offered my virginity to my Lord and savior Jesus Christ. But you have made me to stand naked before the crowd. As my lord has promised me, ‘he who touches you, touches the apple of my eye’, my lord will avenge you for this cruel act of yours. He will never forget this. for all the torments you gave for the poor Christians and their children, you and your Caesar Maximian and your king will receive the reward from my God. Though it seems you have the authority in your hands, very soon you will lose it. For my Lord has said, ‘let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy. Look I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what he has done.’ So on that day I will rise up to eternal life in glory and on that day you will sink into eternal fire. So on that day you should remember my face isn’t it? That is why I ask you to have a deep look at my face and remember me. So I take leave and we will meet on that day.”

  These words of Eulalia added fuel to the already burning heart of the governor. He shouted, 

   “Why do you hesitate soldiers? Did you not hear all that she spoke? 

   She is not at all bothered or ashamed to stand naked before the crowd but why are you people so much bothered about proceeding further with the punishments? 

   My god is thirsty for blood. Let it start right away.” 

      A huge barrel with knives and glass pieces stuck into it was brought. Eulalia was lowered into it. Then the barrel was tolled down in a street from a high place towards the low place. The knives and glass tore the soft body of Eulalia. This street is still called as ‘Saint Eulalia’s descent.’ 

   Just imagine the pain she would have experienced in this torture. But the governor was not satisfied with this. He commanded the soldiers “tear the flesh from sides of her chest using iron hooks, so that I can see her ribs.” Immediately the punishment was executed. 

   But the governor was still not satisfied. He commanded the soldiers to cut off her breasts in front of the crowd. The punishment was executed without any delay. But to every one’s surprise, Eulalia did not show any sign of pain or suffering on her face, nor did she cry out in pain, she did not even give the slightest expression of pain. Instead she sang hymns of praise to her dear Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 

   This was a great insult to the governor and he ordered the soldiers to burn the cut place of her breast with fire. This punishment was also executed, but Eulalia was still praising God. She never uttered a word of pain.

  The governor was greatly confused at this expression of Eulalia. He thought of the punishment which would give her pain and he wanted to see her cry out in pain. So he thought deeply and decided to crucify her on the cross which he thought would be the greatest painful punishment. So he commanded the soldiers to crucify Eulalia on an ‘X’ shaped cross.    He expected her to shout out in pain and plead with him to release her. With this thought in mind he commanded the soldiers to crucify her. Accordingly a huge ‘X’ shaped cross was brought and Eulalia was crucified on it. But what happened? Still Eulalia did not give any expressions of pain in her face as well as she continued to sing praises to her Lord.

    Once again Kalpurninian was defeated and so he thought of intensifying the punishment. He commanded her to be brought down from the cross and set her on fire. The fire blazed from her foot to her head. Her whole body up to her head was burning, but she did not die. On seeing this many soldiers who were standing next to her ran in fear. Since all his ideas were a failure, the governor with the strong determination to kill her commanded her to be beheaded. As she was burning in the fire, her head was cut off. 

   Immediately a dove flew from her neck. All the spectators saw this and said to themselves, “the spirit of Eulalia has left her body in the form of a dove to heaven.” On seeing this, many of them accepted Christ as their savior and god. They also confessed their faith immediately.

  As it is written, “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” This blood of Eulalia which was shed in that city paved way for many of the people there to accept Jesus as their god. The governor tried all possible to win Eulalia but he failed. 

   As one last step he tried to bring disgrace to the lifeless body of this saint. So he commanded that no one should take the beheaded, naked, burnt down body of Eulalia and burry it. Instead it should be thrown on the streets as a food for crows, eagles and vultures and even the street dogs.

   But the Lord was gracious to her and so He covered the body of Eulalia with heavy fog. No one was able to see the body for three days as long as the fog lasted. Also the pigeons and doves in that place did not allow anyone to come near or touch her body.

    After three days her body shined white as silver with the glorious presence. The secret Christians came and took her body and buried it secretly. Only after the body of Eulalia was buried, the fog disappeared. The governor was informed that Eulalia’s body disappeared. Many of the public who saw the torments and death of Eulalia accepted Christ and also accepted martyrdom following her footsteps. This included Eulalia’s parents also. February 12^, 303 BC was the day, Eulalia died as a witness for Christ.

    A historical record states that the body of Eulalia was taken to Oviedo in Spain and kept there. Also a church was built in remembrance of her and her feast day was celebrated on December 10^th. The tomb which has the relics of Eulalia is now kept in a magnificent church in Barcelona. 

  In the year 633 BC the Roman Catholic Church gave her the title of Saint.

 The Eastern Orthodox Church also has given her the title of Saint.also a lot of miracles are taking place through the devotion to this great saint.

Saint Eulalia pray for us. Amen…….