The Catholic History of Barcelona

The Church of Barcelona begins with martyrs. Saint Eulalia, by tradition a girl of thirteen from Sarrià, was put to death about 304 under the Roman prefect Dacian, and her tomb lies in the crypt of the cathedral. Her story rests on tradition: the first written witness is a hymn from about 660, and the Roman Martyrology dropped her in its 2004 edition, keeping Eulalia of Mérida, although her local cult remains authorized. Saint Cugat, or Cucuphas, beheaded in 304 on the road to Ègara, is better attested, and his tomb grew into the monastery of Sant Cugat del Vallès.

The first bishop on record, Praetextatus, attended the Council of Serdica in the 340s. Saint Pacian, bishop in the later 300s, is the first writer from this land whose works survive, and he coined the line "Christian is my name, Catholic my surname." The first cathedral, dedicated to the Holy Cross, stood under the present one, and its baptistery can be visited underground through the city history museum on the Plaça del Rei.