Baudilus
martyr
Saint Baudilus (French: Baudile, Bausile, Basile, Spanish: Baudilio, Baudelio, Boal, Catalan: Boi, Baldiri) 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. Saturnin converted a native of Nîmes, Saint Honestus, who was later martyred at Pamplona. However, the Catholic Encyclopedia writes that "the true apostle of Nîmes was St. Baudilus, whose martyrdom is placed by some at the end of the third century, and, with less reason, by others at the end of the fourth." 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.
Baudilus condemned this ceremony and toppled a statue of the God. Furious at this insult, the Pagan priests whipped and then executed Baudilus by decapitating him with an ax.
The public source identifies “Baudilus” as martyr. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Baudilus and martyr.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q811173. VIAF identifies the subject as 316439057. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1872.
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This entry incorporates text from “Baudilus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.