Fidelis (bishop of Mérida)

Fidelis was a Greek who was hired out by his parents to a merchant venture to Spain in the mid sixth century, arriving in Mérida, where his mother's brother, Paul, was bishop.

[1] As it was customary of merchants to greet the bishop with gifts upon their arrival, it is not surprising that Paul discovered his nephew on one of these trading missions.

With the immense wealth he had at his disposal and Mérida the richest diocese in Spain, Fidelis went about repairing the buildings of the city, restoring the collapsed episcopal palace — and decorating lavishly with marble — and reconstructing the basilica of Saint Eulalia with two added towers.

[7] The Vitas Patrum Emeritensium records, in a fashion borrowed from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, the visions Fidelis saw on his deathbed.

[8] The tradition of the bishop as a source of credit as well as the ambitious building programme were continued by Fidelis' successor, Masona.