She is said to have been born in Bracara (now Braga, Portugal) to Lucius Catilius Serves, Roman governor of Gallaecia and Lusitania, and Calcia, his wife.

Portuguese religious traditions state that Quiteria was the leader of the "Nonuplet Sisters", who were named Eumelia (Euphemia), Liberata (Virgeforte), Gema (Marina of Aguas Santas, Margarida), Genebra, Germana, Basilissa, Marica; and Vitoria (Victoria).

Their mother, disgusted at the fact that she had given birth to nine daughters all at once as if she were a common peasant (or an animal), ordered a maid to take them to a river to drown them.

[3] (Alternately, Calcia, their mother, frightened that her husband would interpret these multiple births as a sign of infidelity, ordered her servant Sila to drown the girls in the Miñor River.

The chapel dedicated to her in the transept of the city's cathedral, with a splendid reredos and the relics of the saint, was constructed at the expense of Bishop Fadrique de Portugal.

[7] Other Portuguese traditions make her a native of Bracara (Braga, Portugal) who was decapitated and thrown into the sea.

Her patronage against rabies stems from the fact that her legend states that she held two rabid dogs at bay with the power of her saintly voice.

Kuthenkuly, a coastal village in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is the home to a shrine which is dedicated to Saint Quiteria.

[8] The hagiography of Saint Quiteria (Kitheriammal Ammanai), a Tamil language manuscript is preserved in this village.