December 10 - Saint Eulalia, Child Martyr
(d. 303)
Saint Eulalia was a native of Merida, in Spain. The daughter of Christian
parents, she was taught in her childhood by a very holy priest of that
city. She
was but twelve years old when the bloody edicts of Diocletian were issued.
Her
parents, knowing of her vow of virginity and fearing that her zeal would
cause
her to be a victim of the persecutions, sent her to their house in the
country.
Eulalia indeed escaped, as they feared, and returned to the city to
present
herself, with her young companion and Christian friend, Julie, before the
cruel
Calpurnianus, representing the viceroy of Diocletian. She reproached him
for
attempting to destroy souls, by compelling them to renounce the only true
God.
The officer commanded that she be seized, and at first tried to win her
over by
flattery. Failing in this, he had her flogged and resorted to threats,
causing
the most dreadful instruments of torture to be placed before her eyes, and
saying to her: "All this you shall escape, if you will but touch a little
salt
and frankincense with the tip of your finger." Provoked by these seducing
flatteries, our Saint threw down the idol before her, and trampled upon
the cake
placed there for the sacrifice. At the judge's order, two executioners
tore her
tender sides with iron hooks, so as to leave the very bones bare, then
tortured
her with burning torches, and dragged her by her hair to the site of
execution.
She said to the cruel persecutor, "Calpurnianus, look well at me so that
you may
recognize me on the day of the Final Judgment, when both of us will appear
before Jesus Christ, our common Lord, I to receive the reward of my
torments,
and you, the chastisement of your inhumanity toward the Christians." She
was
covered with hot coals; the fire caught in her hair and surrounded her
head and
face, and she suffocated amid the smoke and flames. The persecutor
commanded
that her body be left untended for three days, but Providence covered it
with a
blanket of snow, which seemed to whiten it and give it a marvelous beauty.
The Christians buried Saint Eulalia in Merida. Later her body was
trans****ted to
Oviedo, Spain, where it was placed in a chapel dedicated to her memory,
within
the large church. She is the patroness of that city, and many graces have
been
received when her relics are trans****ted in processions in times of public
necessity.
Reflection: The Apostles rejoiced "that they were accounted worthy to
suffer
reproach for the name of Jesus." (Acts 4:41) Do we bear our crosses with
the
same spirit?
Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on
Butler's
Lives of the Saints and other sources, by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger
Brothers:
New York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul
Guérin
(Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14.
Saint Quote:
Love is sufficient of itself; it gives pleasure by itself and because of
itself.
It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside
itself, no
effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in the practice. Of all the
movements,
sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the
creature
can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however
unequal
though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return.
The
sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who
love
him are made happy by their love of him.
--from a sermon by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Bible Quote:
Christ has suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you may follow
in His
steps. I Pet. 2:21
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From The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, by Saint Alphonsus Liguori:
We read in history of a proof of love so prodigious that it will be the
admiration of all ages.
There was once a king, lord of many kingdoms, who had one only son, so
beautiful, so holy, so amiable, that he was the delight of his father, who
loved
him as much as himself. This young prince had a great affection for one of
his
slaves; so much so that, the slave having committed a crime for which he
had
been condemned to death, the prince offered himself to die for the slave;
the
father, being jealous of justice, was satisfied to condemn his beloved son
to
death, in order that the slave might remain free from the punishment that
he
deserved: and thus the son died a malefactor's death, and the slave was
freed
from punishment.
This fact, the like of which has never happened in this world, and never
will
happen, is related in the Gospels, where we read that the Son of God, the
Lord
of the universe, seeing that man was condemned to eternal death in
punishment of
his sins, chose to take upon Himself human flesh, and thus to pay by His
death
the penalty due to man: He was offered because it was His own will (Is.
53:7).
And his Eternal Father caused him to die upon the cross to save us
miserable
sinners: He spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all (Rom.
8:32).
What dost thou think, O devout soul, of this love of the Son and of the
Father?
Thou didst, then, O my beloved Redeemer, choose by Thy death to sacrifice
Thyself in order to obtain the pardon of my sins. And what return of
gratitude
shall I then make to Thee? Thou hast done too much to oblige me to love
Thee; I
should indeed be most ungrateful to Thee if I did not love Thee with my
whole
heart. Thou hast given for me Thy divine life; I, miserable sinner that I
am,
give Thee my own life. Yes, I will at least spend that period of my life
that
remains to me only in loving Thee, obeying Thee, and pleasing Thee.
O men, men! let us love this our Redeemer, who, being God, has not
disdained to
take upon Himself our sins, in order to satisfy by His sufferings for the
chastisement which we have deserved: Surely He hath borne our infirmities,
and
carried our sorrows (Is. 53:4)
St. Augustine says that our Lord in creating us formed us by virtue of His
power, but in redeeming us He has saved us from death by means of His
sufferings: "He created us in his strength; he sought us back in his
weakness."
How much do I not owe Thee, O Jesus my Saviour! Oh, if I were to give my
blood a
thousand times over,--if I were to spend a thousand lives for Thee,--it
would
yet be nothing. Oh, how could anyone that meditated much on the love which
Thou
hast shown him in Thy Passion, love anything else but Thee? Through the
love
with which Thou didst love us on the cross, grant me the grace to love
Thee with
my whole heart. I love Thee, infinite Goodness; I love Thee above every
other
good; and I ask nothing more of Thee but Thy holy love.
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