Quiteria is a virgin martyr from the area now known as Portugal.

It is believed that Quiteria was born with eight other sisters, making them nonuplets. As the legend goes, her mother, the wife of the Roman governor, Lucius Catilius, was distraught after giving birth to nine girls at once. She believed the unusual event would be interpreted as a sign of infidelity or indignity, so she ordered all the girls to drown. Her maid who was sent to drown the girls, but, instead, secretly them to be raised as Christians. The girls grew up opposing the Roman worship of false gods. Eventually, they were brought before the governor, Lucius, who recognized them as his daughters. He ordered them to marry Roman officers, requiring them to cease opposing the Roman gods. Refusing marriage, Quiteria and her sisters were locked in jail. An angel came to comfort the women and release them, saying,

“Happy and fortunate you are, for you deserved to find grace in front of God, 
so that God has chosen you as his spouse. It is God’s will that you are to live in solitude in the mount Oria and there you will exercise in oration and contemplation.”

Quiteria did not comply with her father’s wishes, and led her sisters on a guerilla warfare campaign while converting many people to Christianity. She and her Christian companions lived in the mountains for a time, freeing captured Christians and opposing the Roman government. This infuriated her father. Ultimately, Quiteria was captured and beheaded for her crimes against Rome. Her faith was never shaken. She was canonized in 1716.