Hermenegild, Saint

▪ Visigoth prince

died April 13, 585, Tarragona, kingdom of the Visigoths [Spain]; canonized 1585; feast day April 13

      Visigothic prince, son of Leovigild of Spain.

      Brought up in the Arian heresy, Hermenegild married (579) a daughter of Sigebert I of Austrasia, Ingund, a zealous orthodox Catholic. Given a separate command at his father's siege of Byzantine-held Sevilla (Seville), he was converted through the efforts of his wife and of the bishop of Sevilla, St. Leander, and almost immediately rebelled against his father. He was aided initially by the Byzantines, but Leovigild succeeded in buying them off, and Hermenegild was captured and beheaded. Most contemporary writers suggested that Hermenegild was executed as a rebel, but Pope Gregory I, in his Dialogues, stated that he was killed for refusing to receive communion from an Arian bishop. His cult was subsequently authorized for Spain by Pope Sixtus V and for the whole church by Urban VIII.

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