Calle San Aquilino

There are several saints named Aquilinus, and the street-map archives do not specify which one this street in the Almenara neighborhood was entrusted to. The best remembered is Aquilinus of Évreux, a warrior in the service of Clovis II who, on returning from campaign, laid down his arms and devoted himself with his wife to caring for the poor and the sick. He was named bishop around the year 670 and, ill at ease with the bustle of the office, had a hermit’s cell carved out inside his own cathedral. He went blind in his final years and went on governing the diocese as before. Any of the namesake saints could have lent the street its name, but no record survives of the reason. The name suits the air of the neighborhood. San Aquilino climbs toward the north of Almenara, among blocks that grew quickly when Tetuán de las Victorias filled with modest houses in the shadow of Bravo Murillo.