The municipality of Sant Cugat del Vallès commemorates this Monday, 27 July, the feast of its patron, San Cucufate, a 3rd-century martyr. The day also remembers saints Juliana and Semproniana, linked to local tradition.
Sant Cugat del Vallès experiences this Monday, 27 July, one of its most significant days on the local calendar: the feast of its patron, San Cucufate (or San Cugat), a 3rd-century Christian martyr. The celebration also coincides with the remembrance of saints Juliana and Semproniana, both traditionally linked to the martyr and patrons of Mataró.
According to information released by the Abbey of Montserrat, San Cucufate was born in North Africa in the 3rd century and arrived in Barcelona with his companion Félix with the aim of evangelising these lands. While Félix continued to Girona, Cucufate remained in Barcino, where he suffered martyrdom, probably on 25 July in the year 303 or 304, during the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian. His feast was moved to 27 July to avoid coinciding with that of the apostle James.
Tradition places his initial burial near the ancient church of San Cugat del Rec, in Barcelona. Later, at a site called Octaviano, in Vallès, a burial building was erected in the 5th century and, subsequently, a paleochristian temple dedicated to San Cugat Octaviano, in what is now the cloister of the monastery of Sant Cugat del Vallès. During the Muslim invasion, the saint's remains were transferred to Saint-Denis, France. When part of the relics returned, they did not go back to Barcelona but to the monastery of Sant Cugat Octaviano, where the monks placed them on the altar. The monastery became the nucleus of the current city of Sant Cugat del Vallès, which has venerated the memory of the martyr for over a thousand years.
Saints Juliana and Semproniana, according to later traditional accounts, are said to have been born in Iluro (present-day Mataró) and were disciples of San Cucufate. They were discovered while burying the martyr's body in a Christian manner and, upon refusing to renounce their faith, were tortured and executed. Their remains were venerated in the monastery of Sant Cugat del Vallès until the disappropriation, when they were transferred to Mataró. Their feast is also celebrated on 27 July.
Today's events also include the commemoration of other martyr saints, such as Aurelio, Natalia, Félix, Liliosa, and Jorge, executed in Córdoba in the year 852, and that of Pope Saint Celestine I, who promoted the Council of Ephesus and died in the year 432.
For the residents of Sant Cugat del Vallès, the feast of San Cucufate is an occasion to strengthen ties with local history and religious tradition. The municipality, which owes its name to the saint, keeps the devotion alive through liturgical and cultural events organised each year around this date.
Those wishing to learn more about the figure of San Cucufate and his connection to the city can visit the monastery of Sant Cugat, where part of the martyr's history is preserved and where masses are celebrated in his honour.
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