Babilus of Pamplona

Saint Babilus of Pamplona, a martyr (Babilas, Babilés), was bishop of Pamplona in the 8th century, though our record places him in the 7th. After the Arab invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 711 he had to flee to Toledo. He then moved to Villaviciosa de Odón, to a place now part of Boadilla del Monte near Madrid, devoting himself, among other things, to teaching.

Tradition says that on 30 October 715 he was tortured and beheaded by the Arabs, together with two companions and eighty children whom he taught. Saint Babilus is greatly venerated in Navarre and Aragon, and in La Rioja. He is regarded as the protector of the lame and of the rheumatic. He is remembered on 30 October.