SAINT OF THE DAY

DEC. 9: ST. LEOCADIA

(Died 304 AD)

St. Leocadia is highly reverenced in Spain. She was a native of Toledo, and was apprehended by an order of Dacian, the cruel governor under Diocletian, in 304. She was asked to renounce her Christian faith and refused. She was subjected to terrible torture but remained steadfast in her convictions. She died in prison.

Three famous churches in Toledo bear her name, and she is honored as the principal patroness of that city. In one of those churches most of the councils of Toledo were held; in the fourth of these she was honorably mentioned. Her relics were kept in that church with great respect, till, in the incursions of the Moors, they were brought to Oviedo, and some years afterwards to the abbey of St. Guislain, near Mons in Haynault. King Philip II finally had them returned back to Toledo with great pomp, with the king, his son Prince Philip, his daughter Elizabeth, and the empress Mary his sister, being present at their solemn reception in the great church there on April 26, 1589.

Adapted by A. J. Valentini from: St. Leocadia, Virgin and Martyr. Dec. 9. Rev. Alban Butler. 1866. Volume XII: December. The Lives of the Saints. (n.d.). Bartleby.Com. Retrieved Dec. 1, 2020, from https://www.bartleby.com/210/12/091.html