the patron saint of Toledo, died a virgin and martyr

Leocadia was a young woman from Toledo, in the Roman era of Doccletian, who He suffered flogging for not renouncing his Godbeing imprisoned in the Alcazar and die in his cell. She was buried in the Basilica of Santa Leocadia (Cristo de la Vega) and was greatly revered and loved by the people of Toledo.

When the Muslims arrived, they took his remains and, in an urn, they reached Oviedowhere she was buried in the Holy Chamber. From there, the relics returned to the The Netherlands and much later, thanks to King Philip II, the remains returned to Toledo on April 25, 1587, where They rest in an artistic urn in the sacristy of the Primatial Cathedral of Toledo.

This celebration goes a little unnoticed by the inhabitants of Toledo, but as the Archbishop of Toledo, Francisco Cerro Chaves, declared in his homily, “it has a decisive importance for us” because “suggests the three types of martyrdom: that of blood, the white and that of hope“.

Martyrdom, in the words of Cerro Chaves, is “giving one’s life.” In the first case, martyrdom of blood is to die for Christ. There is also the white martyrdomthose people or those calls that have affected you, a problem or suffering that you are experiencing. Finally, the martyrdom of hopehelp make our world a different reality.

“And a city is built with these two lungs of two great witnesses, like San Ildefonso de Toledo and Santa Leocadia. Two great figures who gave their lives“one as a good shepherd who gives life and the other in martyrdom,” concluded the Archbishop of Toledo.

During the religious celebration, the new brothers who asked for their Membership in the Brotherhood of Santa Leocadia. In addition to the archbishop, the event was attended by the mayor of Toledo, Carlos Velázquez; the government delegate in Castile-La Mancha, Milagros Tolón; members of the municipal corporation and civil and military authorities.