The Sequence of Saint Eulalia, also known as the Canticle of Saint Eulalia (French: Séquence or Cantilène de sainte Eulalie) is the earliest surviving piece of French hagiography and one of the earliest extant texts in vernacular langue d'oïl. It dates from around 880.
Saint Eulalia of Mérida was an early Christian martyr from Mérida, Spain, who was killed during Diocletian's repressions around 304. Her legend is recounted in the 29 verses of the Sequence, in which she resists pagan threats, bribery and torture from the pagan emperor Maximian. She miraculously survives being burned at the stake, but is finally decapitated. She then ascends to heaven in the form of a dove.
The Sequence was composed in verse around 880, soon after the rediscovery of the relics of a saint of the same name, Saint Eulalia of Barcelona, in 878.
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