Saint Emeterius
Saint Emeterius (d. 3 March 298) was a Roman soldier beheaded for professing Christianity. He is a martyr of the Catholic Church and, together with Saint Celedonius, patron saint of the city of Santander (Cantabria) and of Calahorra, in La Rioja, where he may have died.
Emeterio and Celedonio, possibly brothers, served in that Rioja city at the end of the 3rd century; it may have been during the persecution of Diocletian or that of Valerian when they were imprisoned and given the choice of renouncing their faith or leaving the military profession.
They were imprisoned in a place now known as Casa Santa, tortured and finally beheaded on the sandbank of the River Cidacos on the outskirts of Calahorra, the site where the present-day cathedral of Calahorra was later built; hence its unusual location outside the city walls. According to the account, the saints’ heads arrived in the city of Santander (Cantabria) aboard a stone boat and were guarded by a community of monks living there. Setting the legend aside, it is more likely that the heads were brought to Santander to protect them from the Muslim invasion, once it reached the Ebro valley. The heads now rest in the present-day cathedral, built on the site of the old abbey from the time of Alfonso II (the Church of the Santísimo Cristo). The rest of their bodies are venerated in Calahorra Cathedral and are carried in procession through the city’s streets every 3 March, 15 May and 31 August.
Known as the Holy Martyrs, Emeterio and Celedonio are patron saints of Calahorra (appearing on its coat of arms), Santander and other towns in Cantabria such as San Pedro del Romeral, one of the three Pasiego villages; their feast is celebrated on 30 August. He is also patron saint of Arborio, a small village in Asturias located in the municipality of Pravia, whose festival is celebrated at the end of August.
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