Calamanda

Holy Martyr Calamanda is the patron of the town of Calaf in Catalonia, venerated as a virgin and martyr by the Catholic Church; she is, however, a legendary figure, probably non-⁠existent.

Her tradition arose from some relics that reached the church, for which a story was composed to link them with Calaf. The name seems to come from the Latin calamus, "reed". Almost nothing is known for certain and the accounts of her life differ greatly. According to one tradition she was a girl of Calaf who died a virgin for disobeying the prefect Dacian, governor of Hispania; the martyrdom would have taken place on 5 February, under Diocletian, that is in 303. According to another version she was a Christian whose father cut off her arms so that she could not make the sign of the cross. According to yet another she was born at Calaf and was a companion of Saint Ursula of Cologne, one of the eleven virgins cut down by the Huns at Cologne.

It seems that her relics reached Calaf, where they were venerated with devotion; when the church of Sant Jaume was built in the seventeenth century they were placed in the crypt made for the purpose (1649). Pope Urban VIII recognised the veneration of the saint by a bull on 13 August 1624. Her feast is kept on 5 February. She is also venerated in the Mexican village of Calamanda, where an image of her was crowned in 2002.