Baudilus

Saint Baudilus (, , ) is venerated as a martyr by the Catholic Church. His cult is closely associated with the city of Nîmes but also spread into Spain.

Life The first missionary in Nîmes is said to have been Saint Saturnin (Saturninus), who was sent by Pope Fabian to Gaul around 245 AD. Tradition also makes him a martyr during the reign of Julian the Apostate.

The legend of Saint Baudilus states that he was not a native of Nîmes, but was a Christian, possibly a deacon, who came into the city one day during a festival celebrated by the Salii or Agonales in honor of Veiovis. The festival was being celebrated in hills near the city, formerly covered with oaks, but now occupied by vineyards. A crowd was grouped on the hillsides, watching the ceremony, which, according to Abbé Azaïs, writing in 1872, involved animal sacrifice. His cult even spread as far as what are now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Baudilus is mentioned briefly in Robert Southey's Roderick. The notes to the text state that Baudilus "is a saint very little known, [and] it will be proper to say something of him. This saint is much reverenced in Salamanca and in Zamora; and in both cities, he has a parochial church, and in Zamora, they have a good part of his relics. They have so much corrupted the name, calling him St. Boal, that the saint is now scarcely known by his own." The church of San Boal in Salamanca has an image of the saint, and there is also a palace of the same name in the city.

Castile-Leon Mozarabic church of San Baudelio de Berlanga (Caltojar, Soria). Mudéjar church of San Baudilio, Samboal (Segovia). Sambol (Burgos), monastery in ruins, which gave name to a creek on the Way of St. James. Moraleja de las Panaderas (Valladolid), church of San Boal or San Baudilio. Pozaldez, parish of San Boal. Patron saint (feast day: May 20). Parish of San Boal, city of Salamanca. Nearby is the Palacio de San Boal. Blascosancho (Ávila), church of San Boal.

Catalonia Hermitage of Sant Baldiri (Vilarig, Girona). Hermitage of Sant Baldiri (Lliçà de Munt, Barcelona). Parish church of Sant Baldiri, Sant Boi de Llobregat (Barcelona). Parish church of Sant Baldiri, Sant Boi de Lluçanès (Barcelona).

La Rioja Muro de Aguas (La Rioja). Feast day of Saint Baudilus celebrated.