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St. Leocadia of Toledo
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Saints and feasts
St. Leocadia of Toledo
Virgin and Martyr
Leocadia was a Christian virgin of Toledo who died in prison during persecution. Butler records her lasting veneration as a principal patroness of the city.
The reading
ⓘ Butler source
Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XII (December), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; December 9, “St Leocadia, Virgin and Martyr,” pp. 215-216.
Leocadia was a Christian virgin of Toledo. Butler places her arrest during the persecution of Diocletian and describes her perseverance under torture before her death in prison. His short notice remembers a life of fidelity brought to its final trial in confinement.
The honour paid to her at Toledo endured. Butler names three churches bearing her name and records her veneration as a principal patroness of the city. One of those churches was associated with the councils of Toledo, and the notice recalls the honour given to her memory in that setting.
Butler also follows the later movement of her relics away from Toledo and their eventual return. This reading concentrates on the martyr and the city’s continuing devotion, leaving the detailed chronology of those translations open. Her local patronage is expressly recorded in the source, rather than inferred only from her connection with Toledo.
Historical note
An original Novena Regina reading adapted and summarized from the cited pre-1962 source. This is not a transcription of Butler’s words.
The precise years of arrest and later relic translations are not asserted in this condensed reading.
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