Martyr
Martyr Leocadia of Toledo
† 304
Also known as: Мц. Леокадия Толедская, Леокардия Толецкая, Леокадия Толетская
A Christian virgin of Toledo imprisoned by the governor Dacian under Diocletian, who died of her wounds in prison; since 2018 she is included in the Russian Church's Synaxis of the Saints of Spain and Portugal.
St Leocadia was a Christian virgin of noble family in Toledo. During the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian the governor Dacian came to Toledo and had her arrested for openly confessing Christ. She refused to abandon her faith, was tortured, put in chains and thrown into a dark prison cell, where she continued to pray; according to her Life she died there of her wounds on 9 December 304.
In 618 King Sisebut built a church over her grave, where several Councils of Toledo met and the bishops Eugene, Ildefonsus and Julian were buried. Her relics were taken to Oviedo in the eighth century, later to the Flemish abbey of Saint-Ghislain, and returned to Toledo on 26 April 1587; they are kept in Toledo cathedral, and a reliquary with part of her head is in the Orthodox church of St Mary Magdalene in Madrid.
On 28 December 2018 the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church included her in the Synaxis of the Saints Who Shone Forth in Spain and Portugal, kept on the Sunday before 12 October (new style).