Mozarabic Writings: Eulogius of Córdoba's Memoriale Sanctorum (Book Two)

[Last revision: 25 August 2026]

The first book of Saint Eulogius of Córdoba's Memoriale Sanctorum largely consists of a defence of the cause of the martyrs of Córdoba. In contrast, this book (the second of three) largely tells the actual stories of martyrs. The book is a vital work as it is an account of the martyrdoms written during the period in which the events took place, and Eulogius himself knew some of these martyrs. Therefore the book constitutes important primary source material. The martyrdoms took place in the period 850-852 CE, and can be summarised in the following table. Note that as can be seen from the story of Rudericus elaborated in Eulogius' later work in defence of the martyrs of Córdoba, 'presbyter' (Latin: presbyter) and 'priest' (Latin: sacerdos) are the same here.

In terms of events, the book concludes with the death of Abd al-Rahman II as amir of Córdoba and the accession of his son Muhammad I. In response to the martyrs movement, Abd al-Rahman II had allegedly initiated a persecution intended to suppress the martyrs movement, while arranging a convention of bishops who issued an apparent prohibition on seeking martyrdom (though not attacking the martyrs directly or disavowing the concept of martyrdom per se). In response to the supposed increased suffering of the Christian community, many began to resent Eulogius and other supporters of the martyrdom movement.

Note some of the repeated themes in this work like the concept of predestination of the martyrs as well as divine visions and predictions associated with martyrs.

Other than this, I will largely let the work speak for itself. I have included some explanatory notes for context where necessary. As always, I welcome any suggestions for amendments/improvements in the translation.

Editions consulted for the original Latin text and to check Biblical references in particular:

- Juan Gil, Corpus Scriptorum Muzarabicorum (Madrid, 1973).
- Francisco de Lorenzana, SS. PP. Toletanorum Quotquot Extant Opera...Tomus Secundus (Madrid, 1785).

I would like to dedicate this work to all who have wished me well during my period of illness with COVID-19.

Below is the text of Book Two of Memoriale Sanctorum with explanatory notes.

Book Two

The next brevity of this second work only expounds on the deeds of the blessed martyrs and will bring forth with faithful relation the names, ages, origins and days of the executions. Thus the prudent reader, though thinking very little indeed of the protracted arrangement of the prior book, can more easily understand those whom it brought out in its proclamation and in contrast against whom it inveighed as it was armed with zeal for God. So what the former book expounds on with the varying course of disputation in a convoluted manner is explained soberly by this latter book with compendious brevity. So we have divided this work into chapters, so that the beginnings of each struggle of the martyrs might exhibit themselves more freely to those pondering them.

Chapter One: Concerning the martyr Perfectus, the priest of Córdoba

In the name of the Lord who reigns forever our Lord Jesus Christ, in the 850^th year of his incarnation, in era 888,[i] and the twenty-ninth of the consulship of Abdarragman,[ii] in whose times the people of the Arabs, augmented in affairs and dignity in the Spanish lands, occupied almost all of Hiberia[iii] with terrible privilege. Indeed they erected Córdoba (which was once called Patricia, now called the royal city in their sitting) with the greatest peak, endowed it with honours, and magnified it in glory, and heaped it with riches and amplified it more vehemently with the affluence of all the delights of the world beyond which it is right to be believed and said. The result was that they exceeded, overcame and conquered the preceding kings of their kind in every pomp of this world. But also under their very heavy yoke the church of the orthodox was wailing and was beaten to the point of death. It was in this period that Perfectus the presbyter of venerable memory was born in Córdoba and was nurtured with distinguished erudition under the pedagogy of the basilica of Saint Acisclus.[iv] He was imbued most fully with the ecclesiastical disciplines and captured with vigorous literary education, and indeed he acquired some knowledge of the Arabic language. He spent almost all his youth in the aforementioned monastery.

But on a certain day while he was making a journey on account of a necessity of a familiar matter and, looking out for the interests of domestic matters, he was entering through the city, he was tested by the questions of certain heathens regarding the Catholic faith and he was ordered to bring forth his testimony in their presence concerning Christ and the Prophet Mahomat. With his mouth continuously wide open he professed the power of the divinity of Christ and proclaimed that he was God blessed over all things forever. Then he said: 'I do not dare to expound on how your prophet is considered among the Catholics, because I have no doubt you will be hurt with grave trouble on account of this. But if an amicable pact intercedes and you allow for a peaceful covenant of security, I will say with what testimony of the Gospel he is noted and with what veneration he is regarded by the Christians.' Immediately they fraudulently pledged security and compelled him to tell whatever the religious men think of him, with all fear driven away. To these things the prudent priest replied to them in Arabic, saying that that man was a false prophet and most false dogmatist, since (he said) he misled rather many. He brought forth the evidence from the Gospel, saying:

"Many false prophets will come in my name and will mislead many, and they will give great signs and wonders, such that even the elect will be led into error, if it is possible.'[v] From these people this greatest prophet of yours was more occupied than others with the delusions of the old enemy, misled by the figments of the demons and given to the sacrileges of the sorcerers. And so through the fatal poison he corrupted many people's hearts that had little weight and delivered them to the abysses of eternal perdition. Thus marked with no spiritual prudence he accommodated their faith to the prince Satan, with whom he himself- as he will pay the punishment in the harshest torments of hell- has also delegated you as followers to burn in the fires of the inextinguishable furnace. For on what basis will be reputed among the prophets or why should he not be scorned with the heavenly curse? This is the man who blinded by the appearance of the beauty of Zeinab, the wife of his household slave Zaid,[vi] took her away in a barbaric right- like a horse and donkey in whom there is no intellect- and bound her to himself in adulterous copulation and proclaimed that he did this on the order of the angel.'

From there the blessed Perfectus said many things concerning the disgraces and lusts which are mandated in Mahometican law, and at last he concluded with these words: 'Thus this supporter of filth and the one serving the pleasure of lusts has dedicated all of you to the impurities of eternal luxury.' But he expounded to them many other things, as he had known, concerning the very wicked doctrine of that man and in the presence of all he proclaimed many things that were loathsome for them to hear. Although at the time they did not assail him with the proud eye, nonetheless they exacted the fury of vengeance that inflamed in their heart to bring about his ruin.

Subsequently the servant of God carried out what was necessary for him and having completed the course of his own journey he headed back to the house of his rest where he remained secure for some time. But not much time later, when the reason of familiar necessity was compelling him to go somewhere, he by chance met the same people, with whom he had conflicted a little while before. His enemies gazed at him as he came from afar and then they brought forth, like a fire in the open, the eternal wound they had kept in the chest against him, and to avenge their prophet they urged on a gathering of people standing around in this way: 'Behold this man, driven some time ago by rash madness, brought forth in our presence such great words of cursing against the prophet- may God sing psalms over him and save him- that none of you can bear to hear.' Note they always use this kind of benediction to honour him: 'Zalla Allah Halla Anabi Ua Zallen,'[vii] which means in Latin: 'May God sing psalms over the Prophet and save him.' And so like roused bees, that whole cohort of perdition rose up furiously against him, bound him and presented him with all haste to the judge while he scarcely touched the ground with his feet. And they brought forth testimony of this sort about him: 'Oh judge, we have brought this man. We can prove to your most esteemed courts that he cursed our prophet and insulted his followers. Your prudence has known to consider better what opinion should indeed keep in check such initiatives and repress this fury.' Then the judge handed over the future martyr of God to the prisons of iniquity and bound him with iron and restricted him with the importable weight of chains and delayed his execution to that day, in which the festive joy of Easter is observed among those people with profane rites. The soldier of Christ went forth with exultant spirits seeking the abyss of the prison and in his delight entered that cave of defendants as though he were invited to a feast. At this point, endowed as he was with the greatest reverence of fear and holiness and observing the vigils, prayers and fasts, he is said to have affirmed his opinion with braver mind thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit, whereas a while before he had denied it before the judge out of fear of death. And before he should be led out to be punished, they say that he was endowed with prophetic spirit and spoke about a certain eunuch called Nazar, a proconsular jailer, who in that time managed the administration of the whole state in the Spanish lands: 'This man whom today the haughtiness of the principate extolls over all the nobles of Hiberia and the glorious power has elevated in this western part of the world, will be afflicted by the same thing in a year's time on the day he ordered me to be laid low.' So the divine power, as it had revealed to its confessor who had indeed been diminished through the squalors of prison, did not put off the fulfilment of this thing.

Therefore with not many months passed in the prison, after the end of the thirty daytime periods of their fasts,[viii] in which they pursue more eagerly than usual the intoxications of gluttony and excess lust (as was explained in the first book),[ix] that day more glorious than other times dawned for the martyr: that is, the day which they celebrate with solemn veneration and the greatest exultant dance per the rite of their false law. On that day as they thought they were going to display great obedience to their God, they led him out from the cave and butchered him with the sword as he professed Christ who remains in the glory of the deity, and he rebuked the enemy of the Church with free voice and said: 'I both cursed and still curse your Prophet: as I have professed and still profess, a man of demons, a mage, an adulterer and liar. I denounce the profanities of your sect as being the fabrications of the devil. I also testify that you will pay the punishments of the eternal torments of darkness with your very leader.' Indeed the crowd of the heathens driven by such great festivity had proceeded into the plain in order to pray. This plain was situated on a very level ground beyond the bridge of the river in the area south of the city. Moving forward with jubilation, the crowd turned to behold the killing of the martyr. As the crowd beheld him already laid low before the doors of the governor's headquarters and wallowing in his own blood, with the footprints also stained with the priest's own blood, the crowd's joy was increased and after their wish was fulfilled they returned to carry out their sacrilegious proceedings. The crowd believed nonetheless that they would obtain benefits more easily as they proceeded with their steps mixed with the blood of such a great enemy.

But let us return to the purpose and let us relate that which divine piety had brought about to the commendation of its martyr on the very day on which he died, as we have discovered by the faithful relation of very many. For, pouring out a quick revenge to avenge its soldier, it drowned several from the group of very evil people in the river water. For as the crowd returned from the place of prayer, in which it had fulfilled the false vows in sacrilegious rite, many got on board boats and were carried on the surface water: and after traversing the river by the boats and the nimble sailing, they turned back home. Among them one small boat was overturned by the fluctuation of the waves. It served as a vehicle among the waves for eight contemptible people and was buried in the lap of the abyss below. While six scarcely got out by swimming, two perished in the shipwreck, such that the scripture which says- 'I the Lord will give the impious in exchange for your death and the rich in exchange for your burial'- was not vacuous. So the cruelty of the persecutor sent one into heaven and the savage storm of the river dedicated two to the lower depths. But the body of the holy martyr was buried with the pious duties performed by the religious as well as worthy obsequiousness on the part of the bishop and priests: it was specifically buried in the basilica of Saint Acisclus in a tomb bearing the epitaph, where his happy limbs rest. And that prophecy brought forth by divine intervention in his mouth concerning the proconsular eunuch jailer Nazar was fulfilled by God's dispensation just as he had predicted to the fellow prisoners while still bound in prison. For the same eunuch died many days before the paschal joy of the profane solemnity should come upon those doomed to perish in the following year. For a fever was kindled and his entrails burned within and, as several relate, were corrupted by a toxic drink before his death. And while he sought the bedroom as bodily necessity pressed on and he sought to purge his inner bowel, his entrails were poured out on a quoit and he perished, just as a certain Christian poet related in heroic style regarding Arius' demise:

With his entrails poured out, he also remained empty of stomach.[x]

So thus the Lord, through both miracles, glorified His soldier and strengthened the vows of the faithful with the comforts of great hope and disturbed the sacrilegious falsehood of the impious with vehement stupor. Let it suffice that we have recounted only a very few things from the deeds of the blessed martyr, which we have known to be true through the reports of Catholic men who adhered to his companies form the beginning in bonds, but also by the true reporting of the heathens themselves. In the meantime during the time of our imprisonment, all of us with whom the martyr to be was tarrying found that very few were released. But the man of God consummated the course of his struggle in peace on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of May, on the sixth day of the week, in the aforementioned era.[xi]

Indeed the matter of the such great crime committed against the priest compelled many, who in the contemplation of God were enjoying the leisure of secure confession throughout the deserted places of the mountains and the groves of solitary places, to come out to decry willingly and publicly and curse the wicked prophet. The crime kindled within all a greater eagerness to die for the sake of justice. And what the persecutors' treachery initially extorted violently from that one man and took out in vengeance against this man through guile and cunning deception, later shuddered in horror at the very many people who willingly presented themselves to face such danger. For in such a way with excess terror was the whole mass of the heathens shaken by the coming forward of these people, that they thought that the perdition of their state and destruction of their kingdom was already imminent and prayed in supplication that our athletes should be inhibited from intentions of this sort. But as stated in the preface of this volume, let us follow with faithful pen the ages of our contestants, their origins and their times of decision. We will do this in order that the pure series of this little book should make known to generations to come what the divine gift has granted us and our own time- namely our ability to see for ourselves and contemplate the struggle of the saints. It is also intended that the future generation should have a share of our joy, while with believing mind it should not deny to be true those matters that the Catholics compile in writing for themselves through diligent undertaking.

Chapter Two: Concerning Isaac the martyred monk[xii]

And so the blessed Isaac was born to the noble citizens of Cordoba, with his parents being rather wealthy. While he entered the first years of youth and spent his time very fervently among the wealth and property of his parents, in such a way that he became skilled and learned in the Arabic language and came to perform the duty of exceptor of the state,[xiii] but he suddenly burned with spiritual eagerness and sought the life of the monks and made for the small village of Tabanos. This village is seven miles away from the city in the parts of the north amid the rugged parts of the mountains and the dense woods and is renowned for very beautiful tales regarding the practice of monastic life by the men and handmaidens of God. He came there since his cousin Jeremiah was in the same monastery. Jeremiah was a man who was endowed with the greatest reverence of the fear of God. Indeed that Jeremiah, endowed with wealth and enjoying abundance in his affairs, and his venerable wife Elisabeth and their children and almost all their relatives laid the foundations of the same monastery by their own expenditure, and intending to adhere to perpetual obedience of the divine laws they had brought themselves to that place a long time ago. There for three years the blessed Isaac served as a soldier for the holy purpose, serving under the regular disciplines and under the most reverent abbot Martinus (the aforementioned woman's brother). Immediately marked out by divine intervention, he approached the forum and sought the judge and by the order of events I explained in the preface of the book, he died with happy ending under the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same royal city. This was on the third day before the Nones of June on the fourth day of the week in era 889.[xiv] His corpse was hung on a rack and after some days along with the rest who had been killed in imitating him, it was committed to the most rapacious fire and was diminished all the way to the last ember and from there it was immersed to be lost to the river.

Chapter Three: Concerning Sanctius the martyr

Indeed Saint Sanctius our hearer, once captured as a lay youth from the Albensian town of Gallia Comata,[xv] was decreed as a free man among the king's military boys and was nurtured by the royal grain supplies. He was cast down and pierced in the same royal city[xvi] under the same profession on the Nones of June, in the aforementioned era, on the sixth day of the week.[xvii]

Chapter Four: Concerning the martyrs Petrus, Walabonsus, Sabinianus, Wistremundus, Habentius and Jeremiah

Let us now come to that most consecrated group of martyrs of the six-fold mystery, for on one day and at one hour under the blow of the savage sword they were killed on account of the testimony of the truth.

Among them Petrus the priest was born in the city of Astigi[xviii] and Saint Walabonsus the deacon arose from the Eleplensian city.[xix] Both men were of the same age as the prior martyrs, and came to Córdoba with the zeal of contemplation and devoted themselves to the liberal disciplines. But with God's support they flourished with the knowledge and doctrine of the scriptures and were put under the charge of Frugellus, the abbot of the monastery of the saint and glorious Virgin Mary. This monastery flourishes thanks to the outstanding purpose of God's handmaidens in the village of Cuteclara not far to the west of the city. Also Saint Sabinianus was a monk, already in the prime of his youth from the village of Froniano of the Cordoban mountain, while Wistremundus was a strenuous young man from Astigi. They both came from the Armilatensian monastery of Saint Zoylus[xx], in which they served for a long time under the rule and abbot. One had been a soldier for a long time in the camp of the Lord, while Wistremundus indeed recently came to the same monastery. Both men rushed from different directions to the martyrdom. This place is almost thirty miles or more away to the north of Cordoba and shudders at the very vast solitude amid the desert of the mountains. At the foot of this hill, where it has been placed, the river Armilata[xxi] roams and nurtures the hunger of the monks with the great solace of the little fish. Because of this river it is also called the Armilatensian monastery.

Indeed the most blessed Habentius, perfected already with his manly age and one of the citizens of Cordoba, chose the life of the monks and lived at the monastery of Saint Christophorus,[xxii] which is situated to the south of the city beyond the further bank of the Baetis.[xxiii] There he was dead in this life, but living for Christ under the strictest rules, as he handed himself over to the voluntary prison. Surrounded by the high fences of the walls and hedged in with iron sheets on the inside facing the flesh, he showed himself to those who approached via the windows. This such great man was with the blessed old man Jeremiah, about whom we have previously spoken, and he also fell among the other servants of God, spurred on by the rather fierce lashes. These six very brave and most outstanding men descended at the same time to attack the wicked enemy. All of them seemingly shouted with one voice, saying: 'And we remain, oh judge, under the same profession, by which previously our fellow brothers the most holy Isaac and Sanctius fell. Exercise the sentence, heap on the cruelty and burn with all your furies in order to avenge your prophet, because we truly profess Christ is God and we profess that the precursor of the Antichrist and the author of the profane dogma is your prophet and we grieve knowing that you, infected with the juice of his prophecy and furnished with the virulent preaching of Zabulus[xxiv] will afterwards pay the punishment of the torments, and we sufficiently weep at your destitution and ignorance.' The saints of God professed these things with keen spirit, and immediately were ordered to be beheaded. Previously however they severely cut down with lashes the blessed old man Jeremiah on account of some assertion he made and he was almost dead amid the beatings themselves, as they say. They dragged him out through the doors as he scarcely clung to the steps. When these martyrs approached the place where they were to be killed, seemingly invited each other to the banquets. And indeed first the most reverent ministers of God Petrus and Walabonsus fell, and then the rest were butchered at the same moment. This occurred on the seventh day before the Ides of June, on the first day of the week, in the aforementioned era.[xxv] Fixing their bodies to trunks, after some days they consumed them in a very vast fire and handed over their ashes to the river to be lost.

Chapter Five: Concerning the martyred deacon Sisenandus

Also the most holy deacon Sisenandus who originated from the Pacensian town[xxvi] came to Cordoba in order to study and there was nurtured with dignity at the basilica of the most blessed Acisclus, where the body of the same martyr rests. As he related to people familiar with him, since he was invited by the most blessed Petrus and Walabonsus who were already martyrs placed in heaven, he also ventured upon the martyrdom. While he was bound in prison, they say that he was marked out with the prophetic spirit and declared the hour of his crucifixion with foreknowledge. For on a certain day when he was preparing a response to a certain friend who asked him something and wrote a letter of correspondence to him, after going through three or four lines he was suddenly filled with excess cheer and he was invigorated with some heavenly joy. He arose from the place where he was sitting, and handed over the half-written document to a boy who was standing around and serving as the letter bearer. The soldier of Christ intended him to go back with the letter. As he did this, he said to the many people who could hear him: 'Go away, son, lest you be oppressed by the attendants attacking you, because already the power of darkness, mandating to drag me out with bonds, will now display me to be beheaded by them.' After this prophecy, as he remained still and immobile, the vociferous executioners arrived in the same moment and furiously led him straight to the place, where he would consummate his martyrdom, as they beat him with fists and blows. The servant of God proceeded with joyful spirits and was certain about the crown of victory, as he had been invited to the heavenly banquet at the exhortation of the saints. For thus presented to the judge, with the same constancy as before he endured in the holy confession. So the beloved young man was killed with glorious death and was left unburied before the doors of the palace, on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of August, on the fifth day of the week, in the aforementioned era.[xxvii] His bones, after many days by the grant of God, were found by certain women amid the little stones of the river bed, and having been brought into the court of the aforementioned martyr Acisclus they were buried.

Chapter Six: The martyrdom of Paulus the Cordoban deacon and Theodemirus the monk

Indeed Saint Paulus- our fellow of the same region and this very dignified deacon- flourished with the first flower of youth. He was born as one of the citizens of Cordoba. He was quite simple, obedient and humane, always showing compassion to the imprisoned. He was nurtured with the spiritual disciplines at the basilica that is illustrated by the presence of the body of the blessed Zoylus. This man, instructed by the example of the most holy Sisenandus and his word, did not fear to face the chiefs and consuls, and refuting them concerning the falsehood of their culture and the insanity of their wicked prophet, he also was killed in professing that Christ is truly God. It is said however that when he was still held in prison, he was implored by the Pacensian priest Tiberinus, who thus said to him: 'Obtain my release in the presence of the Lord, oh blessed minister, and by your worthy intervention, when you are crowned and reach Christ, remove from me the long squalor of prison.' For the same person had been confined to the prison for almost twenty years, accused of some crime by his enemies in the presence of the king. This priest Tiberinus, still flourishing with the most flourishing youth and endowed with manly comeliness and confined to that subterranean enclosure, became almost decrepit and worn out with old age. Led out from there he was at last confined to the public prisons. In these places the martyrs of Christ spent time all the way to the hour of death. In these places the wicked ventures and execrable rashness of people who committed parricides, people who committed murders, thieves and fornicators, as well as defendants of various crimes, were weakened under very strict custody. Placed in these places, the aforementioned priest entrusted his case of imprisonment to the blessed Paulus. The holy martyr, trusting in him concerning the crown of victory, promised to satisfy his wish. And not many days after his martyrdom, the faithful bondsman restored the man to his own city after the latter was released from prison with God's support. But the slave of God consummated his martyrdom in peace on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of August, on the second day of the week, in the aforementioned era.[xxviii] His body, unburied and left before the doors of the palace, was secretly removed several days later thanks to some curious faithful. It was buried with the body of the blessed Theodemirus- the monk of Carmona- at the sanctuary of the aforementioned martyr Zoylus. This very young man Theodemirus fell on the sixth day after the holy Paulus fell, that is, on the eighth day before the Kalends of August, on the seventh day of the week, in the aforementioned era,[xxix] with the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has helped his saints and crowned them in peace forever. Amen.

Chapter Seven: Nunilo and Alodia, the virgins and martyrs

I had originally decided this point should be the end of the second book, and I had thought this point should be the end of the saints who rushed to the palaestra of this sort, and I did not think anyone after so many crises of the churches and our imprisonment would undertake such struggles. Indeed as the presaging divinity decided that the number of the saints should be increased by the profession of such people, so later it inflamed the minds of certain people with manifold ardour and destined more than those before to that struggle. And indeed imbuing the rest of the men, women and little ones with similar intent and boldness, it armed them for the exercise of their battles. And no one prescribed for such a great military service could recoil from the struggle, as that person's name was noted and retained by the book of heaven from the beginning of the world and decreed their strength should grow through the divine ventures for the palaestra of this sort. Their names, ages and acts of the wars are to be explained by their place and time. But first to be composed with great labour are those trophies of the saints, which reason and the course of months adduce in order as acts have taken place, although the deeds occurred in other regions. But as there is one profession that crowned both people and both were sent to heaven at the same time through the savage impiety, I do not think it absurd that our compiling annotation has inserted them into the columns of the saints and joined them to the gathering of the elect, so that with equal magnificence of praise they should be elevated by us in the lands as they have been noted in one codex in the heavens above. Concerning this matter it has been decided that succinct brevity of this small work should overstep the measure of the promised connection and the book, which for a long time hoped it would speak more sparingly, should be devolved into a long series of writing as other matters suddenly come to light.

Therefore by the referral of a most holy man and Venerius the Complutensian[xxx] bishop of venerable paternity, we have learnt in the city of Bosca that there were two virgin sisters at the town of Barbitanum.[xxxi] One of them was called Nunilo, the other Alodia, born to a heathen father and a Christian mother. After the death of their impious father, their mother entered into a second heathen marriage and they could not freely hold the faith of Christ- on account of the opposition of the stubborn triumphant paganism (for already the minds of the girls were irrigated by the pious fountain of Christ). And so they rejected living with their mother and were cherished anew most faithfully through the nurturing of their maternal aunt. Immediately their holy infancy began to adhere faithfully to Christ the Lord, and having forgotten the father's rite, and putting back on the religion of the Crucifix with their most youthful and sanctified minds, they began to guard it in chastity. And since they were prominent by the distinctions of their birth and stood out with utmost dignity, their purpose could not be kept hidden from the city, by virtue of the odour and glow of their practice of the holy faith. For they had already touched the first flower of their youth and their renowned holiness had filled almost the entire province. And all were amazed that the twin décor of roses had jumped forth from thorns. From here the jealous old enemy grieved at the diminution of its limbs. While through the terrors of the governors in envious arbitration, the enemy trusted that those women already marked for the bedroom of the eternal groom could be changed, it brought to the holy virgins the put-off reward that was quickened through the harsh deaths. And so in their earnestness, the enemy's followers informed the prefect of the city about the case of the holy virgins.

The prefect immediately ordered them to stand before his sight. He tried to lure them with the vain promise of gifts and likewise he tried to persuade them concerning riches of things and marriages to most distinguished young men: if they were to call away their minds from the religion of Christ, they would be restored to their own family and would be additionally enriched through many abundant riches. But if they should reject the governor's counsel with rather tenacious spirit, then given up on the last day to excruciating torments, they would finally perish through the sword in an act of revenge. To him the blessed virgins, animated by the Holy Spirit, said in constancy and intrepidness under one profession: 'How, oh governor, can you order us to turn away from the piety of God, when holy piety, illuminating with its light, has made us recognise that there is nothing richer than Christ, nothing more fortunate than the Christian faith, through which the just live, through which the holy have conquered the kingdoms? Without him there is no life, without him perpetual death is strong. Remaining with him and living in him are the true comfort. Receding from him is eternal perdition, in no way will we ever depart from his company in this life, because as those who believe that our integrity belongs to him, we hope to be admitted at some time or another to his bedrooms. As for the benefits of perishable things, by which you attempt to entice us, we consider them to be of no value and reject on the basis of our intuition, as we have known that all things are vain under the Sun. And we are not disturbed by the threat of punishments, which we know are of little value. On the contrary, the very death that you bring forth as the final act of terror is chosen by us with the most gracious affection, on the basis of which we believe we will immediately ascend to heaven via that act, approaching Christ and clinging to his embraces without convulsion.' The governor noticed the constancy of their faith and the virtue of their profession and he entrusted them individually to the instruction of certain contemptible women endowed with the skill of the profane rite, and threatening whatever acts of terror he could, he advised that they should not be allowed to converse with each other or any of the faithful.

Indeed the contemptible women received the virgins of Christ, expounded to them on a daily basis the poisonous dogma of the sacrilegious cult, and during constant watchful care they offered the virgins- replenished as they already were with heavenly manna- the drink of the cup of putrid sewer liquid. So the contemptible women were consumed with tiring labour. But as the contemptible women informed the governor of those girls' obstinacy, several days later the virgins were led out into the forum and displayed in the public spectacle, and professing Christ and detesting the enemy of the faith they fell under the blow of the sword on the eleventh day before the Kalends of November in the aforementioned era.[xxxii] The bodies of these girls, left in the place where they had fallen, were watched over by the soldiers with utmost zeal, lest the Christians should secretly take them away for the purpose of patronage and bury them. Nonetheless they say that those virgin corpses glitter with signs and miracles in the place- where they were more hidden than buried by the high heathen ditches- and show both the faithful and heathens the glory of the deserved consolation through the performance of miracles. This is so through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives with the Father and the Holy Spirit as one God forever. Amen.

Chapter Eight: The life and suffering of the holy virgins Flora and Maria

Although the cult of reverence, which is shown for the martyrs, pertains to the praise of Christ, nonetheless whatever is done religiously on the feasts of the blessed responds to the faithful in providing a remedy for souls, particularly since through this and through the patronages of the martyrs themselves and the greatest Redeemer there is acquisition of the reward, in the honour of which they honour the saints' virtue anew. Therefore as we intend to explain the trophies of the virgins Flora and Maria, let us not be servile to the charm of eloquence or to the thundering euphonies of words, but let us observe that which insinuates the truth of the matter in simplicity for the faithful, as we believe that the truth explained with pure simplicity suffices for our people rather than falsehood adorned with false cult, and it is sufficient for us to report faithfully what was, because it is not right to add a matter that did not occur for the sake of embellishment. For the complete truth, however it is brought forth, stands with firmer step and perseveres over the small lie that is most ornately decorated. Christ does not allow the assertor of justice to be immune through the reward of blessing, for the enlarger of falsehood is bound with the charge of murder.

Therefore it is necessary to provide an explanation for the calling of each of these virgins, who were born on different soil and were joined to the people of heaven by the same fall of death. And let us at least explain by our meagre pen the means by which each of them attained the culmination of the predestined sanctification through God's support.

So first of all we have the very holy virgin Flora, who was very flourishing with the appearance of beauty and beauty of body, but most flourishing in her interior. She had a Christian mother from the village of Ausinianos, which is eight miles west of Cordoba, and her mother's origins were of the most pure and noble, as I have said. But she had a heathen father from the town of Hispalis.[xxxiii] For some reason these people came to Cordoba to spend time there as they were exiles from their own places. The most recent offspring they had was this little child, and with the father taken away through death she was nourished under Christ's patronage thanks to the tutelage of her very faithful mother. The pious mother, imbuing her with the laws of the sacred religion, taught her to revere Christ as God with faithful credulity, as he came to us in recent time through the womb of the Virgin Mary and having been made near to men through the assumed humanity he was always invisible, incomprehensible and inestimable through the ineffable deity as well. So the venerable girl in her most youthful years imbibed the piety of faith and began to construct a holy altar inside the recess of the mind, by which she might always offer the choice burnt offerings of good works to Christ. She, depriving herself of all vanities of this world from the very rudiments of her childhood, rejected all that which that age- since it has no share in the fullness of knowledge- aspires to in childishness, for she was already imbued with the dew above. For at a certain time, when I was approaching her mother in order to know the beginning of this girl's way of life, the mother herself said: 'In truth I speak to you that from her very early years my daughter found the love of Christ in her heart and completely rejected the cult of worldly delights and always was keen to consider those things that pertain to God, and she never put off fulfilment of the sacred works. As such, in her infancy, during the days of Lent, taking into account her smallness, or so that she would gain strength in the next stage of life, I offered her food as appropriate daily nourishment at lunchtime. But she, having placed her heart in the virtue of the Lord, would give the food to the poor, and she secretly carried out the blessed fast. And as she acted thus on the individual days, almost the greatest time of abstinence had elapsed, when the secret devotion of the child was only just revealed through certain signs. I myself strove to prevent her from such vows, lest before her very young body should be shaken by the decay of abstinence before it could grow. So I then tried to persuade her to take the daily meal. Nonetheless I could not successfully encourage her to eat, except at a late period and with continual threats. However, the chosen bride of Christ completed her vow.'

From that time the mother, looking after the customs of her offspring through skilled vigilance, and considering that she was assigned to Christ in all matters, did not dare in anyway from there to go against the girl's pious desires. Indeed the venerable girl, while she was eager to please God, was a foreseeing observer of the Gospel and attended to Christ who advises and says: 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come to him and we will make an abode with him.'[xxxiv] Thus preparing within the purest habitation through execution of the divine command she nonetheless merited to enjoy the daily advent of the holy and indivisible Trinity.

Indeed while through the exercise of sanctity she carried out for the love of Christ and with greatest exuberance what she contemplated in secret, and she rejoiced that she was continuously acknowledged for Christ through the same religion, nonetheless she did not dare to participate in the gatherings of the faithful everywhere, seeing as how she had a brother who was a perfidious follower of the evil dogma, who assiduously tested her conduct. As she herself was prudent by nature and clever in character, she learnt from the wise ones that obscured faith and hidden profession of the Trinity accomplish nothing, particularly since it has been written: 'There is belief in the heart for justice, but let profession by mouth be for salvation.'[xxxv] And again in the Gospel: 'All who profess me in the presence of men, I will also profess them in the presence of my Father who is in heaven. And he who denies me in the presence of men, I will deny him in the presence of my Father who is in the heavens.'[xxxvi]

And so she was instructed usefully as to how she should act in professing the name of Christ and she knew that believing secretly in Christ was no small difference and that she was publicly marked with the banner of Satan. So then, without consulting her mother she left the home secretly with her sister and went into flight. And as they placed themselves in safer places amid the Christians, their brother, whom we have mentioned earlier, very savagely pursued and harassed the church of God because of them, such that he handed over several of the clerics to prison and persecuted the gathering of the religious women everywhere. And when they recognised the hostility that was being exercised towards the church, they deemed it unworthy for them to be safe while the church of God was being attacked, and so immediately Saint Flora, who had known that she had been chosen by divine intervention for such a battle, came back publicly into the home and said: 'Behold I, whom you seek, am present in your midst: I for whom you pursue the lot of God with hostile intent. I stand without fear, believing in Christ, supporting the Catholic religion, bearing the stigmata of the cross and striving for all those things that mark the cult of piety. But you, if you can, weaken this profession. Strive to overcome my faith with rather cruel torments and, which I altogether doubt will happen, strive to separate me from Christ. For the sake of love for him, I have decided to bear with most gracious spirits whatever the savage arbiter has imposed to punish me. I believe, you will establish that despite the punishments I profess Jesus Christ with stronger tenaciousness than now in the first encounter.

But her brother, the perverse one, heard these things and strove to call her back with beatings and threats, and sometimes with soft words. But when he saw that his attempts accomplished nothing, indeed seeing that he was being worn out with tiring labour, he dragged her to the judge saying: 'In her most recent birth, my mother, oh judge, brought out this sister for me. She, along with me, followed with reverence the ceremonies of the law and always showed the due obedience towards the cult of our faith. But the Christians, urging her on with frequent instigation, have made her deny our prophet and detest the rite and with a certain flattery they have enticed her to believe Christ is God.' The judge asked her whether the complaint of her brother bringing the report was true. Immediately she refuted her impious brother and testified that she had not known the Mahometan cult in any way, and she added: 'I have known Christ from my infancy, I was instructed in his teachings, I decided to consider him God and I have promised the integrity of my body to him, as I was at one point marked out for his bedrooms.' When the most holy virgin brought forth these things, soon monstrous fury agitated the sacrilegious breast of the judge and moved with anger to strike the martyr, he ordered both attendants standing beside her to bind her hands, stretch her out and strike her head with terrible beating. The judge insisted on the whippings all the way to the point that with her skin cut along with her hair, the bare bone of her head lay open. Nonetheless the young martyr and virgin endured in her profession. Then the judge, leaving her half-alive and almost dead for her impious brother, advised that she should be treated with medicine, instructed in the word of the law and only presented to him again if she did not convert.

From there the virgin of Christ was led back into his home, and that unjust enemy, not brother, committed her to the domestic women to be cherished with warm lotion and words, indeed bolting the bars of the house with great beams of chains, because the whole circuit of the small estate, fortified with a huge wall, meant that no one had to worry about escape. But not many days later the brave Flora, having recovered from her wounds, and when she felt that she was safe, climbed a high wall with the Lord's help on a certain night via a contiguous cottage attached to the home within the domestic retinue, and from there threw herself outside onto the broad soil. Not feeling any grief, she began to head through the darkness of the night, with angelic guide accompanying, and came to the place where the Lord wanted her to be. Thus restored to the guest hosting of a certain faithful person through the chaos of the night, she remained in the same place for some time, and then she sought Ossaria- renowned village of the city of Tucci[xxxvii]- with the intention of hiding there with her sister and she remained hidden there all the way to the time when she consummated her martyrdom. And I, I the sinner, I the one rich in iniquities, who from the beginning of her martyrdom enjoyed her friendship, brought my hands together and touched the wounds of her very reverent and beloved head, with the virgin's hair having fallen from the blows of the whips.

Indeed since with God's support the auspices of the conversation and martyrdom of the blessed virgin Flora has been noted, I think it would be worth the effort here if I should explain likewise the process of birth and the beginnings of religious devotion on the part of the holy virgin and martyr Maria, so that the intent of pen in recounting the vocation of this virgin should be similar in all respects for those who have similarly agreed on waging the battle and similarly assented to dying for justice. The father of this girl is said to have come here from the town of Eleplensis, not humble in lineage, but Christian nonetheless. He took a wife of Arab origin, and purifying her of the error of all impiety he converted her to the faith of Christ. For this reason, unable to live in his own land with the same wife, he was driven as a fugitive through diverse areas, until through divine guidance he came to the town of Froniano, which is twelve miles west of the city in the Cordoban mountain. He had two offspring from her: namely, Walabonsus and Maria. There they continued their life in strength. There the woman, snatched away from the jaws of the wolves, and remaining in the faith of Christ, came to rest in the Lord after some time. There the surviving husband, having made the step of profession, entered into the strictest way of eternal life as he took delight in the joys of heaven, but he handed over his son to the ecclesiastical rules to be brought up and to the presbyter Salvator of pious memory so that he should be mixed with the lot of the Lord. Through a distinguished system of order, Salvator at the time controlled the monastery of Saint Felix, which was founded in that place. Indeed he assigned this holy virgin in devotion to God at the Cuteclarensian monastery, which glows with the memory of the glorious and eternal holy Virgin Mary the Mother of the Lord. He settled her with a certain woman of utmost holiness called Artemia, who herself previously sent two children to heaven through the death of martyrdom: namely, Adulphus and Ioannes, who boldly triumphed over the enemy in the beginning of the reign of this ruler. The deeds of these people, shining like the stars of heaven, were put into writing in considerable detail for the benefit of the holy church and the example of the weak by the pen of the old man: our master and most illustrious abbot Speraindeo[xxxviii] of blessed recollection and memory (whom we have mentioned in the first book).

So Artemia, by the grace of her sanctity and advanced age and the fact her sons had obtained martyrdom, preceded the rest of the women staying in the same monastery. On account of this, the gathering of the whole virgin monastery was marked by the order of her authority. But she taught the girl, as she had herself known, to serve God, engaging her mind in all humility, chastity, obedience and fear of the Lord. But not much time later, when the aforementioned priest Salvator departed from this world, the father also brought back the boy to raise him. As two martyrs to be they made great accomplishment in the fear of the Lord by the grace of the Holy Spirit. At last indeed through the ecclesiastical grades the young Walabonsus grew and obtained the honour of deacon, while the girl flourished no less in all holy decency of the religion, since they loved each other with much kindness and obeyed each other with all spiritual love on account of their sweet siblinghood. Indeed as the most holy virgin preceded her young brother in age, the sister was honoured as a mother by him and she changed the love for her brother into affection for offspring.

Therefore while these things were being done assiduously between them, through the dispensation of God the most worthy deacon Walabonsus, the blessed priest Petrus and the rest of the professors, as has been understood above, were crowned with martyrdom, and he who was younger than his sister in age became first in the election of martyrdom. And so the handmaiden of Christ remained devoid of comfort of her brother in this present life, even though before the constitution of the world she was predestined for martyrdom and was always protected internally and externally by her brother's intercession. And, as the fragile condition is, she rather frequently longed for the gaze of her brother, in whose consort she was to take delight. And so during a certain occasion of rest the holy martyr advised a certain religious woman that now his sister Maria should cease to weep for her, because soon enough she would come to him in the heavens above. From that day the heart of the virgin burned with love of martyrdom, and she who impatiently grieved over her brother's death was suddenly illustrated by divine intervention and longed for martyrdom with impatient eagerness.

So on a certain day, by Christ's invitation as I believe, she left the monastery and descended to the forum, where like the rest of the martyrs, who already took delight in the heavenly reward, this virgin also, in professing Christ and denouncing the adversary of the holy faith, should obtain the crown of martyrdom. When with the intention of beseeching the Lord she had entered the church of the blessed martyr Acisclus while on the same journey, by the Lord's will she found Saint Flora there invoking the prayers of the martyrs to help her. She herself also was fervent with the renewed zeal of waging battle for Christ who says to her: 'I come again to be crucified.' So she had come down swiftly from the place of her hiding place, intending to find the palm of martyrdom that she had begun some time ago. Then, having given each other kisses and greeting each other, they got to know each other through asking questions to each other. And their mutual profession showed that their vow was one and the same, with the equal division by Christ who says: 'Wherever there are two or three gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them.'[xxxix] Thus they were bound with the indissoluble bond of kindness, and by no cause were they to be separated from each other, and with no fortune interceding were they to be split from each other, and they were not to be separated from each other no matter how savage the overhanging disasters might be, which were to heap up and cause them to perish on account of the profession of the truth, such that one should approach Christ and the other her brother Walabonsus in the heavens. And thus standing before the judges with the same impulse, thus first (as I think) did the most holy Flora attack them with a rather firm address, saying:

'Behold here I am, I who- since I adhered to Christ even as I was created from heathen seed- have long been lacerated by you with harsh beating so that I should deny him. I have so far been hiding in the infirmity of flesh as a fugitive here and there, but now relying on the power of my God, I do not fear to stand before your headquarters, and I profess in truth with the same constancy as at first that Christ is God and I declare publicly that the criminal dogmatist- your false prophet- is an adulterer, mage and sorcerer.' Then the venerable virgin Maria brought forth these words with her mouth sanctified by the diffusion of the heavenly graces: 'And I, judge, who once had a brother among those magnificent professors, who died denouncing your prophet with not light insult, assert with similar boldness that Christ is God in truth and profess that your rite and the ceremonies of your law are the figments of demons.' Immediately the most savage arbiter, aroused with raging fury, raging under that terrible voice, decried the virgins' purpose with the harshest cry, rebuked them with threats, argued back with shouts, adding the squalor of prison and the company of the harlots.

But the hidden recesses of the prison took up the limbs of Christ's brides for protection rather than diminishment, since they- always dignified with the chaste décor from the cradles and flourishing with their holy conduct- glowed with the particular grace of their virtues. The holy virgins, remaining in these places for some time, engaged in fasting, devoted themselves to prayer and freed themselves from all that horror of the prison through the contemplation of the heavenly hymns. Then we also, having been led out from the cave, and while these people were being delegated to the prison, composed the book Documentum Martyriale[xl] for the instruction of those girls with God's support, and as consolation in the form of contemplation and consummation of the battles that had been begun, we dedicated it to those who were already almost slipping away from the purpose through the persuasion of certain people. At the end of the small work we attached a prayer appropriate for their struggle and the whole church.

There they persisted in the praises of God and the most holy Virgin, and after the third admonition they were led out into the forum to be laid low. Let me be silent about the inquiry of the judge brought in turns to them, both as a whole and individually to the most blessed Flora as we have already explained elsewhere. And while we are silent somewhat on account of mediocrity, so that the protracted words should not generate tedium for the readers, the precious death of the virgins constrains the pen with an appropriate end. From there they were led forth straight to the place of the beheading, and they performed holy signs with their faces. And thus with their necks extended, Saint Maria was laid low after the blessed Flora. They left the girls' bodies in the same place to be devoured by the dogs and picked apart by the birds, and then on the next day threw them into the river. Among them the corpse of the holy virgin and martyr Maria, by God's grant, was placed back in the Cuteclarensian monastery, from which she had descended to her martyrdom. However it is wholly unknown in which place the Lord placed the body of the most blessed virgin and martyr Flora. But their heads were buried in the basilica of the martyr Saint Acisclus, where the saint protects the Christian peoples through the present favour of his body.

Finally at least we care to add to this story that before the blessed virgins fell, they promised to certain fellow sisters that in the same place where they would attend to Christ their crowner, they would pray to their husband whom they had acquired through the veil of grace and would free us from the binds. This indeed came to pass through God's support. For they consummated their martyrdom on the eighth day before the Kalends of December,[xli] and they released us from the bonds and cast us forth from the squalor of prison on the third day before the same Kalends of December.[xlii] This was in the aforementioned era, through Christ our Lord, who lives with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.

Chapter Nine: Gumesindus of Toledo and Servus Dei who died at Cordoba

Some time ago, when he was still a small boy, Saint Gumesindus the priest from the town of Toledo came with both his parents to Cordoba and thanks to the devoted affection of his parents he was assigned to the heavenly soldiery through the sacred order of the clergy at the basilica of the three saints, where Faustus, Ianuarius and Martialis the martyrs[xliii] rest with their corpses' present ashes. He became distinguished in fear of God thanks to with the worthy education provided by his teachers. When, after some time, he was consecrated in the holy ministry of the deacon, he was eventually put in charge of a certain rural Cordoban church, being a young man at the time. He then came down to the city with the blessed monk Servus Dei, who was at the time still a young man and a recluse in the aforementioned sanctuary with Paulus the priest. Both of them came to the chiefs and judges under the profession of the rest and fell on the Ides of January, in era 890.[xliv] Their bodies were secretly carried away by the Christians and were buried with religious devotion in the basilica of Saint Christophorus the martyr, which is beyond the river to the south of Cordoba.

Chapter Ten: Concerning the holy martyrs Aurelius, Felix, Georgius, Sabigotho and Liliosa

There was also a certain young man, called Aurelius, preceding in birth and very many things. This man, orphaned of his Christian mother and his heathen father, was cherished by the tutelage of his most faithful maternal aunt all the way into the years of young adulthood and he was taught to believe in the truth that Christ is God, and he was imbued with the doctrine that the path of salvation and the journey to the kingdom of heaven cannot be otherwise found beyond the church. The venerable boy very much imbibed this article of faith, such that while he was handed over to relatives who came together in order to have him instructed in Arabic literature, no figments of the falsehood could change his awareness of the faith that divine intervention had implanted beforehand in the innocent minds. Rather, always retaining his Christianity in his heart, when he engaged in contemplation of the scriptures doomed to perish, merely so that he could deride them, he burned all the more with the love of the Christian faith, such that more clearly examining the follies of the perverse dogma, he noticed the subtle fallacy of that demon-possessed man. And although he could not practice his faith publicly, he entrusted himself everywhere nonetheless to the priests of God and asked for more effective prayers to be made on his behalf.

Meanwhile as a strenuous young man he was carried forth in the years of youth and his face was adorned with manly décor as his cheeks flourished. From here, through the encouragement of his relatives, he was compelled to seek a marriage appropriate for his nobility. From here each one of his relatives, as far as he had known, asserted that the offspring of such-and-such and such-and-such was best. But he, contemplating otherwise within, committed the business of his marriage to Christ. He prayed to the heavenly power with the frequent interventions of prayers that a wife flourishing with such vows should be given to him: she who might strive to accomplish his secret for the better and support the hidden worshipper in mind and body. At last, aided by its favour, he found a virgin who had sprung from noble origin, renowned for her wealth, decent in customs and very beautiful in form. Although she was outwardly decorated with the particular form of beauty, nonetheless within she glowed more presently with the spiritual décor, indeed all the glory of a daughter of a king from the inside, that is, in the depths of the mind. For there with sanctity in the golden fibres, that is clothed with the various virtues, she showed pleasing servitude to Christ the king.

For this girl, born to pagan parents, was deprived of her father while she was still lying in the cradles. Her mother married another man, who secretly held faith in Christ. Extirpating his spouse of the error of impiety, he was eager to assign his stepdaughter to Christ and he called her Sabigotho, naming her after the sacrament of baptism. Though publicly they mixed with the pagans, both parents practised the religion of piety with rather firm mind. The venerable young man accepted the idea of legally marrying this girl. The proceedings of the betrothal were fulfilled, the legitimate legal evidence was delivered in the form of a mutual pledge of down payments, and finally they were consecrated per custom through the ministry of the priests. And thus with equal companionship for some time they practised the faith of Christ privately and weighed down by the weakness of the flesh (and not in fact the diminishment of their intention) they did not reveal the secret of their faith to all.

Aurelius also had a certain man as a blood relative, called Felix, bound to the same man in the holy love. As he vacillated in his faith because of the devil- although later he sighed rather deeply for the error of his transgression- he could no longer exercise the religion of Christ in open assembly. He also married the daughter of secret Christians- her name was Liliosa- and worshipped Christ in a more hidden sense in the hidden recesses. So adhering to each other in an unshakeable manner, they always had one intimacy, exerted the same sweetness, and they did not separate in prosperous or adverse events, and they had the same condition. And that such great necessity of piety brought about the perfection of kindness in both brothers, such that they were divided in neither life nor death, as the same cause of religion had brought them together. About them it deserved to be narrated: 'Holy ones, lovely ones and righteous ones, how they have loved each other in their life, and so also in death they have not been divided.'[xlv]

Not very many years later, it happened that on that day the venerable Aurelius set out to the forum, where that John, whom we noted in the first book, was bloodied through beatings all the way to the point of death because of hatred of Christ's name, was carried backwards on an ass and was bound with the immense weight of chains, so that the litter of the mule was being bent back on the part where his legs were hanging. While the callers of the illusory things preceded, that man was dragged to the spectacle of the crowd with the help of attendants while going around the city. The voices of those degrading John resounded here and there, saying that in no way had John yet paid the worthy punishment for his crime, since it was fitting that the one who did not fear to hurl insults at the prophet of such great reverence should rather be afflicted with the most disgraceful death. Thereupon, the warrior to be, driven by the love of martyrdom, was instilled with some sort of heavenly breath, such that he believed that the spectacle was for him and was shown to him as a cause of admonition, that he should of course not fear those who butcher the bodies, since they can bring no worry to the souls, but rather he should fear the one who can lose his body and soul and send them into Gehennam.[xlvi]

Admiring the firmness of the man's faith, he said: 'Indeed this man's tabernacle of faith has been founded upon angelic stone, as the massive force of storms has not driven it away, nor has the breeze of temporary punishments shaken it. This man, who bears the standard of Christ in plain sight, has borne so many savage torments through zeal for the Redeemer even though he could also escape the disaster of punishment by erring, for he judged the loss of his flesh to preferable to the perdition of his soul. And so he has not allowed himself to be drawn away from Christ's religion in the form of making a single pronouncement in a moment. If all this is so, with what punishments am I to believe that I should be deservedly instructed, and with what punishment ought I to hand myself over to be rebuked, so that I may acquire the strength of that condemned man whom I have beheld today and I may possess his steadfastness?'

As he began to ponder these things in his mind while the breaths of the vocation were already growing from above, he returned home and reported to his pious companion all the things he had seen and added with joyful spirit: 'My very sweet wife, while I was living for myself and was dead to God, you have always persistently urged me on and drawn me to the profession. Everyday you pressed on, striving to tear me away from the pleasures of this world. You preferred the happiness of the eternal kingdom to the dark affections of this world. You urged for the abandonment of all perishable things and everything that is bound with an end. You advocated for the monks, you praised those renouncing this world and loving the conduct of the religious women you rather often sighed for the life of the saints. But I, not yet having been illustrated with the urging of the grace above, could not all together acquiesce to the exhortations of salvation, or perhaps not yet insisting on the admonition of my correction that was predetermined by God the Father, I put off trying to carry out that which I was considering in my mind, though lightly. Behold now, oh most dear one, the acceptable time has come. The days of salvation are present, in which we should leap away from the past and external things and we should extend ourselves towards that which is before us. And at first, considering more completely the elegance and continence of all things, let us be free to pray, by which we may hurry more easily and with diligence to the remaining aspects of holiness. Let the one who has been my wife now become my sister; let the bed of our union cross into the affection of siblinghood, let the offspring of the souls be successful; let the generation of the spiritual ones come into being and, with the foul joining of the limbs rejected, let the mind removed from the delight of the flesh know how to bring forth more readily the seeds of perpetual safety, so that in some way we may be considered worthy of the prize of martyrdom through the contemplation of such labours.'

With their spirits rejoicing, the venerable wife undertook the pious counsel of her husband and rejoicing very much in the suddenness of the unexpected salvation, she said: 'This is the change of the right hand of the Most High; these are now the auspices of our vocation; these are the transactional matters of the eternal kingdom that I always wished for, so that dying in flesh we may live in spirit, so that we may more easily be joined to the one, about whom it has been written: 'The Spirit is God and those who adore Him must adore in spirit and truth.'[xlvii] Therefore, my lord, since this has not been revealed to you through human intervention, but rather the Heavenly Father wants you- destined as you have once been- to hasten now with quick steps to the eternal military service, let us now absolve ourselves of all the bonds, let the dust be shaken out of us, and let us arise with the desire for eternal life.'

And thus there was the common assent of both for servitude of God. They were divided by beds, joined in vows. The posts of the small couch glowed with the variety of clothes and colours, so they could hide their conduct from the people. But in the internal recesses of their dwelling they lay apart in sleep on a bed built with crude bricks, furnished only with the coverings of shaggy hair. They often fasted, prayed without intermission and contemplated whatever psalms they knew by night. They overcame the abyss of the darkness as the labour of vigils came in between and they overcame all the trickery of the demons through such endeavours. They ministered to the needy, and showed all together care for the poor. And since the aforementioned John was still being held in prison, and we who had been led out from the cave were being held in bonds, and also both the virgins- that is Maria and Flora- were then dwelling in the hiding places of the women because of their faith, they frequently came to the prisoners: that is, from that time of the blessed Isaac the monk and the rest of the saints, who with their tongue endowed with the preaching of truth, had come to the chiefs and judges intending to profess those things that are true, and had fallen because of the same truth. Through their enduring steadfastness, and their strength multiplied with virtues, the strength of these people was increased. For that man would come and see the men, while his wife would look for the women held in their enclosures.

There I recognised him, there I obtained his friendship and there he begged for us to instruct him as to what should be done concerning worldly matters and the two offspring that he had received by God's gift, if it was allowed for them to be forsaken, as indeed he rather deeply grieved that they would be handed over to the profane rite after his killing, and he wondered if it was right to leave the abundance of riches without arrangements and to be immediately added to the treasury. I thought that in view of the heavenly kingdom and for the sake of the eternal retribution, he should not only abandon all things, but also he had to flee from them and rather they had to look out for the interests of their own souls rather than the interests of the children, as Christ indeed is avenger, father and creator for them. And I taught that no temporal matters should be put before the longing for the Redeemer and enjoying the company of the saints. In light of these things, I immediately added: 'If the foreseeing opportunity is at hand, by which all these things may be arranged with the exercise of masterly discretion, we think it first useful for the offspring to be brought across to a safer place, where they can be more freely assigned to Christ. Also sell all things per the command of the Lord and have the proceedings given to the poor, so that a quicker entry into Christ's presence may lie open for you. For thus the holy Truth said to the young man who asked how he might possess eternal life: 'If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all things that you have and give to the poor and come, follow me, and you will have treasure in the heavens.'[xlviii] But even if some part is to be left to support the children financially, that will not be a source of reproach for you, per what the forefathers' teaching tell us. Thus if you can realise this sort of arrangement, it is the best thing and the more complete benefit, which, once your worldly matters have been dealt with, will make you proceed more securely to the soldiery of heaven. But if certain difficulties stand in way and create pressure and thus this arrangement is taken away and there is no opportunity given for you to fulfil these matters in the easiest way, particularly given that you are more afraid that problems can emerge from something and thereby obstruct your intention, you should not hesitate to reject your worldly inheritance, for what is much better and greater is found in heaven, where you strive to go.

Affection for one's daughters is not to be put before the company of the saints, since also God can nurture them in this life as He compacted them in the womb, seeing as how He has foresight and care for all things. Not all small children are nurtured by the diligence of the parents and not all offspring are brought up with nourishing labour. A man may be born and then deprived of the comfort of a father while still in the cradles. Nonetheless he is not deprived of the guiding helm of the Creator, for He is the father of the orphans and the judge of the widows. Oh how many small children brought up more luxuriously with the care of nurses end up in worse states of affairs! How many children grow up in horrible poverty but manage to attain great wealth and become masters of many things, even as they have been scarcely brought up with very meagrely bread! Many born to the Christians, owing to the greater obstruction of defect, are deprived of the limb of the church, and several sons of the pagans, thanks to the intervention of the Lord's grace, rush back to the redemption of the faith of salvation. And the sacrilege of the parents is no obstruction to the latter and the religiosity of the parents is of no use to the former, since also these people receding from the faith are alienated from God while those people believing in Christ, through whom they live as just people, are snatched away from the Devil and cling to God eternally. The Lord is witness to this matter, for in the Gospel, while refuting the impudent falsehood of the Jews, he said: 'Oh progeny of vipers, who has shown you how to escape from the wrath to come? Therefore make fruits worthy of repentance and do not say among yourselves: We have the Father Abraham. For I tell you that God is capable raising the sons of Abraham from these stones.'[xlix] And again: 'Many will come from east and west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens, but the sons of the kingdom will be cast forth into darkness outside. So there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."[l]

Therefore as the venerable young man was instructed as to how he should consider the process of the battle of martyrdom, he implored for himself to be comforted with the prayers of the prisoners and departed in peace with a rather joyful mind. And although the same man did not cease to visit us, as long as those enclosures of the horrible prisons held us, the very prudent Sabigotho stayed by night, as though she were one of the prisoners of that den of the women where the most sacred virgins Flora and Maria were being detained, so that she might console those struggling and commit herself to the condition of those struggling, or rather so that she might be imbued with the skills of fighting for Christ the king and get used to waging battle. She engaged in prayers, and eagerly beseeched that they should be mindful of her after obtaining the consort of their bridegroom following the triumph, by which they might at least merit to enter heaven after shedding their blood. Immediately the holy virgins promised they would bestow this benefit, for they had known that their prayers could not be resisted in any way after the victory and they could not deny anything to their fellow soldiers, as they did not doubt they would be heard.

While therefore after the virgins' martyrdom the Lord's handmaiden Sabigotho was undertaking servitude to Christ within her own home's walls where she was under less suspicion, and she rested for a little out of regard for her body that was worn out by engaging in vigils, they say that both virgins- that is Maria and Flora- clad with snow white robes and bearing bundles of various white-flowered shrubs in their hands, came to her in her dream. Maria and Flora were accompanied by a group of the saints bearing drinking vessels in their hands, by which, as I think, they might carry the prayers of those who had come to the battle and present them before the Lord. All of these people were glowing with the clarity of heavenly lights. While she wished them, as she thought, to recline on the couches and requested them to do so with very humble supplication, she was terrified by the majesty of the dwellers of heaven, and she scarcely approached them and addressed them gently, saying: 'Oh very holy virgins, what trust in the request I once put to you in prison do you order me to have? And if I am to obtain the benefits of my vows, elaborate with the most gracious responses, lest running in vain we fall into emptiness, lest our men be consummated with the vain labour of effort, while the intention looks for one thing, and merits require another thing. For since God favours merits over prayers, He has known how to reject the repetition of one's prayers that is not aided by the worthiness of one's merits. Therefore, my mistresses, brides of Christ, if up to this point the hope of holding the prize you promised remains assured for us, please explain how we might hurry more quickly to the heavens above, so that we might have greater strength in the struggle.'

Then the holy virgins, soothing her with words endowed with the diffusion of the heavenly graces, said: 'The benefits of your labour, having been stored in the heavens, have been preserved to be measured by you at the necessary time, and the reward for those prescribed for the battle will not fall away, for the battle compels the most unconquered athletes to go to the kingdom. Martyrdom has been predetermined and predestined for you by divine intervention since the creation of the world, and it has been fitting for you, intending to fulfil it after a little while, to engage in pursuits of holiness that are more fortunate than usual. Therefore admit the drink-offerings of the priests to your labours, implore the help of the saints, entrust yourselves to the prayers of those serving Christ everywhere, dwell in the venerated sanctuaries of God with votive running about and seek out the supplications of all the religious, because although the prizes prescribed for you are to come about at some point, nonetheless it is true that through this industry you can take hold of the summit of such great goodness as though you are leaning on certain steps. And as we testify that our words of this sort are certain in evidence, we will send you a monk who will cling to your company in the struggle that is imminent for you. This person has been ordained by divine intervention to obtain the palm of martyrdom with you.'

After this vision was taken away from the eyes of the one gazing, the blessed Sabigotho was more vehemently attracted to wage the wars of the Lord through the miracle of such a great affair. Arising rather cheerfully from sleep, she increased her works of sanctity, instructed herself for the fight despite being of the brittle sex, and through the heavenly gift she increased her strength to fight. Subsequently, now with firmer hope held with confidence, she informed her husband and taught that he should be entirely deprived of the earthly things, because (she said) having been dedicated from the beginning of the world to the heavenly military service, they would mingle with the dwellers of heaven immediately after their victory.

Subsequently, more and more inflamed with the burning desire of enjoying the Redeemer and his holy colleagues, they put aside the condition of their children and they rejected what the perishable face of the world contains. They dismantled everything and sold everything so that they might be freer in pursuing Christ. From the money they obtained, they left some to their children and gave the rest as alms for the poor. They visited the monasteries of men and women, in particular however the Tabanensian monastery, which we have mentioned rather frequently, because through its strictest rules of monastic discipline it illuminated the whole west thanks to stories of its great renown. From there the most brave athletes consumed the teaching, from there they seized on the instructions, there they immersed themselves in the cup of eternal life. There the holy Sabigotho frequently stayed with the handmaidens of old, there she learnt the diligence of all holy fear, there they placed the two offspring under the tutelage of the blessed women.

Oh renunciation of the world to be admired, and the admirable divine ardour, by which the condition of the children is rejected, by which the affluences of wealth are rejected, by which the sweetness of those nearest is rebuffed, by which death is chosen instead of life, by which all perishable things are despised, by which out of desire for eternal happiness, the bonds, beatings, crucifixions, prisons, beatings and torments are considered the greatest delights! Indeed one of the daughters was eight years old, the other was five years old. After the killing of their parents I found the younger one. Scarcely expressing eloquence with her very young mouth, she urged me in a most child-like way to write the deeds of their parents, publicise their acts and write about their trophies with great labour. And when because of this I asked what benefit I might expect from her (I am about to say strange things, that such a young age could readily notice such things, unless perhaps it is to be believed that she was imbued internally by the One who perfected praise for Him from the mouth of infants and sucklings)[li] she said: 'I will seek to get (she said) oh father, paradise for you from the Lord.'

Indeed since on the right occasion, for the sake of explaining the smallness of the little children, we have departed from the direct order, by which we might attach a matter that was brought nine months after their martyrdom, we now return to devote ourselves to the story that is wretched and still labouring under the earthly troubles. Brotherly reprimand ought not thus to defame us for as culpable people we do not fear to be rebuked by the Lord. It is no obstacle whether in the last, previous or middle place that the truth is discussed, since the asserter of the truth is in no way deprived of the blessing. Therefore retracing our steps, let us rush back to the remaining deeds of the blessed ones to be reported with more devotion.

While therefore with eagerness for the things of heaven they pursued at every time the vigils, as well as prayers, charities and fasts, nonetheless frequently they were sprinkled with the star above in their bedroom where they contemplated these things, in such a way that the heavenly light that fell compelled every appearance of present light to be thought of as interpolating horrid abyss by comparison. Often they were elevated by divine revelations and enjoyed conversations with the angels. They were united in mind and spirit with the joy of the dwellers of heaven and they bore the bodily burden not without heavy trouble. For on a certain day when I had sought the hall of our very serene teacher Albarus,[lii] commended in all the West for his knowledge of scripture, for the purpose of mutual comparison and instructing our mind through debate on the problems of the scriptures, I found in his presence the soldier of Christ Aurelius seeking a consultation on the struggle of agony and imploring how he might seize the auspice of martyrdom. The same outstanding teacher and flowing fount of wisdom of our time instructed him in the examples of the forefathers and ordered him first to consider carefully the strength of steadfastness, to notice its secret, to consider the arcane and whether he was able to bear the things that were imminent rather than divert the punishments when he finally intended to receive the sword on his delicate neck, and if he strove more to attain the merits of the martyrs rather than to be called a martyr, and if he strove, while unknown to flourishing lands, to be assigned to the catalogue of the elect in heaven by his merits more than he gasped to have a renowned name of temporal martyrdom with diminishment of the prize in the heavens above.

Then he, pledging that he would fight all the way to death, professed that his intention would not be overcome at all by any force of torments. He said: 'For me, for me, the greatest consolation of life is Christ and dying is a gain, because for me life on Earth is the darkness of the blackest night, and remembering this transitory life on Earth makes me aspire for the aroma of perpetual life.' Thus the fact we arrived became the common joy. Indeed we rejoiced in looking at each other. We believe that the Word of the Father Most High participates in our counsel, for He testified that He descends everywhere on a gathering dedicated to His name, saying: 'Wherever there are two or three gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them.'[liii] And since we reported more things appropriate to his struggle and the same man received our teaching with the most gracious spirits, he returned to his own affairs, sufficiently (as I think) aided by our meeting and immediately intending to enter into the wars of the Lord.

Indeed while the blessed Sabigotho was staying alone at home several days before her suffering, and was beseeching Christ concerning he perfection of her martyrdom with whatever gains she could, she suddenly saw a virgin of wondrous beauty standing before her, invigorated with the angelic décor, bearing the first flower of youth (as was thought). When Sabigotho said to her: 'You, who are you daughter? And if you come from a neighbour, explain why you have come,' the notable virgin replied: 'I am the offspring of your friend Montesis, whom you know was once taken away from the wretched things of the earth and whom you found lifeless at the same hour, in which she was being vexed by the utmost anxieties, before you visited more recently. And although I, almost eliminated from this life, had not known you, nonetheless in the very moment of my passing I recognised who you were by God's revelation and now by His sending I have come as the preceding announcer of your palm of victory. Now the time of pursuing the victory presses on for you, the days of publicly professing the Catholic faith and repelling the darkest enemy are at hand, in which, with the quarrels brought to rest, the depths of the heavens will take you up to be crowned after you have been anointed with eternal peace.'

Therefore the venerable woman, scrutinising her heart and contemplating with herself the address of the one present, immediately recognised the matter that came back to her memory, and before she should give thanks to the girl who preached to her, that form of the virgin, the announcer of heaven and the heralder of her martyrdom, disappeared from her sight. She became joyful at such heralding, she was animated by the heavenly oracle and she was roused to the battle with all the more stronger hope as she saw that she was shamed by the truth about1 the act brought to completion.

Indeed so that they might turn more and more to the aim of their predestination and be without doubt regarding the reward stored for them, and so that the edict of the holy virgins might be fulfilled, some eight days before they were arrested, the long-since promised professor was admitted to their company. And unshakably bound to these people in a certain way, all in one moment they were crowned with happy martyrdom. Therefore we have judged congruous to expound the account of the same monk, because the choice to do so has interceded, and because his cause shook our age with vehement admiration. Also we have judged his story worthy of being bequeathed to the succeeding generations, so that in him the religiosity of the Catholics may be increased through the increment of faith, for in him it sees the oracle of its Redeemer fulfilled in truth in a certain special way. Indeed our master and Lord had foretold that many coming from east and west would recline with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,[liv] because we behold, with the outcomes revealed, the testimony fulfilled entirely in the very monk and deacon Georgius.

This man originated from the countryside of Bethlehem, and the foreign shores brought him his heavenly place of dwelling. This man, I say, born beyond the seas, took delight from his youth in the servitude of God. Under the magisterial rules, he spent twenty-seven years at the monastery of Saint Sabbas, which is some eight miles to the south of Jerusalem, united along with five hundred brothers who lived in the same monastery (as he himself told us by his mouth). The venerable abbot David, then the procurator of his monastery, sent him to Africa to procure financial support from the monks there. That man in no way put off undergoing so many interceding difficulties of the lands and seas, by which he had indeed known without hesitation that the benefit of the greatest virtue was merited for obedience. But when in the same place he found that the church of God was being attacked rather harshly by harassment on the part of the tyrants, he also went to Hispania on the advice of those to whom he had been sent. For he was, as we ourselves had ascertained most certainly about him, a man of the greatest humility and great abstinence. In all his address, words and responses, the fear of the Lord resonated. Always rather swiftly pouring out kindness from the pure fount of his heart he brought forth the honeycomb of delight. He preached that the goading of the heavenly longing had to be sought, he ordered to subdue the limbs and their vices and worldly desires, so that in the advent of the Lord they would be animated with the recurring vigour of virtues and would appear more glorious with Him. Thus endowed with sober sanctity, he objected to being seen as just and too much being said. Indeed he was pleasant, cheerful, modest and abstinent and thus he made use of this world, as though he did not use it. And when he was compelled to take up food by chance when brotherly kindness got its way, he ate sparingly and drank soberly so that you would judge him more abstinent rather than feeding. He would temper the unmixed wine with water to the point that while the colour tinge was there, the taste was absent. For the tasteless taste, he thus reported, does not allow the guest to drink excessively or get drunk. Rather frequently he ran to prayer, and he rather diligently performed vigil. Rather often he contemplated the divine song in his heart and would say: 'I will bless the Lord in every time, praise of Him is always in my mouth.'[lv] And while he was skilled in various tongues- namely Greek, Latin and Arabic- he did not aspire to any sort of glory at least on account of his knowledge of these languages. From the day in which he sought the monastery and was added to the cohorts of the monks all the way to the crown of his martyrdom, as he himself related to certain people rather secretly, he was neither soaked in water nor did he take baths. Until he conversed with us he did not reveal his rank to anyone at all, except when he was already detained in prison.

He prepared the summary of his martyrdom for his brothers, relatives and all the citizens of his country, which he transmitted to me for the purpose of polishing, lest the rather uncultivated words should take away trust in the accomplished matter from those to whom it was being sent. There in the beginning of his diction he testified that he was a monk and a deacon. Indeed what is the use of dragging the words out for long, as though the martyr's blood does not bring about utmost reverence for the life of the man of God, particularly given the fact that the martyr's very own blood tells us how great and what kind of blood was poured for the justice of God, and because the foreigner, not refusing a foreign burial in this world, has found all the affection of his birth soil and neighbours within? Or what praise will extoll the soldier of Christ more than to have given death for the Lord, spirit for the life, blood for the Crucified, so that the taking back of the servant should equate to the victory of the Crucified?

But as for how the blessed minister was added to the gathering of the saints, we believe that it can be noted better by the tongue of the Saint Georgius himself, by which both the series of our diction, with the words of the martyr placed in between, may be seasoned as though with the salt of blessing on top, and how he became connected with the rest of the saints may be learned through the same man's narration. For also in those very days, in which he had a conversation together with the saints, he expounded on his own deeds and those of the aforementioned martyrs, and finally he directed for his explanation to be approved by us. From his words we have cared to have these things inserted into this work, which we have foreseen to be sufficient to explain the connection. As for the rest of the things that follow after the servant of God's words, we will trace them out in the same way that we began. So he said in this way:

'In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Perfect regards in the Lord Jesus Christ to the whole Catholic Church from me, the unworthy one and sinner Georgius the monk and also the brother deacon and colleague of the servants of God, the five-hundred men who are sons of Saint Sabbas. Know, oh most dear brothers, that the sole reason I entered Hispania was to procure your financial support, since you spend time under the strictest regulation and regime of the holy father David of Jerusalem. Having been sent by them to Africa, I migrated from there to the Spanish lands. But finding this very peninsula very much afflicted, I began to ponder various thoughts, thinking that either I should return to my own soil or seek the realms of the Christians- that is, Francia. And when I consulted those most intimate and dear to me regarding this matter, several ordered me to travel over, but most urged me to return to my monastery. Subsequently, seemingly hesitant and impeded by being pulled in various directions, I did not know to which intention I should first submit myself. But going from Cordoba to the Tabanensian monastery, in which the blessing of the brothers and sisters might accompany my journey, the abbot Martinus and his sister the mistress Elisabeth said to me: 'Come brother, and receive the blessing of Sabigotho the handmaiden of God.' As soon as she beheld me, she said: 'He will be the promised companion of our struggle and the colleague monk.'

Therefore after recognising her cause and discovering her story I immediately flung myself to her feet and asked her to beseech the Lord on my behalf, to see whether by chance I had been illuminated by the Holy Spirit's regard for me and had merited to attain those things that she was awaiting. And she said: 'On what basis do we suppose, oh father, that you should go with the sinners?' And on the same night that I was staying there,the venerable woman Sabigotho appeared to me in a vision of the night , and applying some kind of fragrance of the most precious wood, she said: 'From this I have a richer treasure.' So in the morning, we straightaway descended to her husband Aurelius in the city and I prostrated myself at his feet, asking him to pray for me that I should be a partner for them in the martyrdom. Since he immediately agreed, a heavenly fire burned in me through their prayers and I became one of them. And since then I was not separated from them, but all together gathered in the home of Saint Aurelius we rendered the vows of praise to the Lord with pleasure. There among them I found the blessed Felix with his most holy wife Liliosa, as they had already sold all their things and paid out to the holy places and the poor, prepared as they were to undertake every kind of torment on account of the Son of God and love of him. At the same hour I left their company and put in order all the issues I was entangled with. And thus at last very much strengthened I returned to them, and they were happy and joyful about our return and thus rendered thanks to God saying: 'We know, oh most dear brother, that the Lord sent you to us.'

Subsequently, we all began to consider how we would reach the longed for crown. And with God's dispensation we thus decided, that our sisters, with their faces uncovered, should go to the church, if by chance the occasion for arresting us should be given. And thus it was. For when the women returned from the church, a certain man placed in front and obstructing the way was standing by. When he recognised the women harboured the religious cause, he immediately asked the men why the women were rushing back to the sanctuaries of the Christians. They responded: 'It is the custom of the faithful to visit the churches and to seek out the halls of the venerable martyrs with pious affection of devotion. For as we are Christians, so we profess that we bear the standard of the very faith.' And immediately an informant approached a judge and explained our entire story to him with deceitful tongue. Subsequently the master Aurelius went to visit his daughters. As he said goodbye to them with the kiss of peace, and armed with the heavenly virtue, he hurried to the battle.' But here already Saint Georgius curbs his pen, and so we will follow the remaining events, just as we began.

Afterwards on the day when the blessed Aurelius knew that he would be arrested, before the dawn should loom, he came to see us at home for the purpose of saying goodbye. He implored us to pray to the Lord on his behalf and demanded that through us the brotherly kindness should become the supporter of his struggle. There we entrusted ourselves to him, there after kissing his hands we had his patronage arise on behalf of us and the whole church. Subsequently, we kissed each other and peacefully parted ways.

Therefore when the judge got to the case brought against the saints of God and knew that the one responsible for this matter was Aurelius, he was gravely wounded within by this and ordered them to be brought before his sight as quickly as possible. Then the soldiers rapidly came and besieged the home of the blessed Aurelius, where all the saints remained gathered. They began to shout before the doors: 'Come out, wretched ones, come out as you intend to die at close quarters, as to you the present life is tedium and death is reckoned to be glorious. Behold the judge calls, he is at hand to pour out the decree of revenge. He wants to grind those who recede from the cult, prepared as he is to cut the rebellious necks. Go you now to pay the debt of death and the overhanging sentence for the error that has been committed.'

From there the men with their women proceeded as though invited to a feast. They went triumphantly, they jumped forth in joy. You would have thought that they would now find their gifts with the judge, even as they had nothing other than torments. And when Saint Georgius saw that he was not being held by the soldiers, immediately relying on his holy audacity he turned to rebuke the executioners and said: 'Why do you impose this privilege on the faithful and compel them through violence to worship the false deity, when the holy faith has to this point claimed them as its own? Indeed why, oh people alienated from God, do you strive to add to your perdition those predestined for life? Or is it that you will not be able to approach the infernal confines unless you have us as companions? Surely without us the eternal torments will burn you? You go away, you go there, you who will perish, where along with your leader you may enjoy the delights of the depths of hell. For what do we have to do with Tartarus, which Christ who is our God penetrated, devoured, plundered and overcame, such that as he has long since been accustomed to guide the saints by their privilege he now does not dare to abandon the faithful?'

The man had scarcely finished his words and already the furious right hand of the attendants laboured to inflict harm on the monk. Lacerating him with various goads, they dashed him to the ground and also beat him very furiously with kicks and punches. Saint Sabigotho, thinking he was already dead, shouted to him: 'Rise, brother, let us go.' He, as though he had endured no evil, replied: 'All these things, oh sister, are useful for the benefits of the merits and augment the crown.' And thus rising him half-dead from the ground, they led him with the saints and made all of them stand before the judge. They were brought before him. First he asked them with bland affection why they had abandoned their cult, refused to live and strove to lose the benefit of temporal delights blooming with multiple flowers, particularly as eventually in the future not only did the admirable delight of women await them, but also the abundance of dignities and dishes awaited them so they could be pampered. Immediately as though with one voice they said: 'No affluence of this time, oh judge, can be compared with the eternal benefits, for the sake of which we look down on this life through the faith of Jesus Christ, by which every worker of sanctity is justified, indeed we are sure that we will gain the rest of his blessing in the future as it has been promised to the saints. Indeed every cult, which dissents from the divinity of Christ and does not profess the essence of the holy Trinity, denies the baptism, defames the Christians, diminishes the priesthood: we judge such a cult to be wholly disgraceful, and we think perishable matters to be of no value as they do not last for a long time. But although the things Christ has promised to those who love him are ineffable, nonetheless they always endure, not worn out in joy, and they are not beheld by the eyes and not captured by the ear and they are not weighed with the heart.' Indeed, as I believe, as the saints asserted before the judge something else more religious with open mouth and as they bravely attacked the sect of the impious, the judge was roused with the greatest fury, and ordering them to be sent away and quickly dragged to prison, he decreed that they were to be loaded with the burden of chains that cannot be carried.

Immediately with exultant spirits the blessed martyrs went to prison, rejoiced in the auspice of the suffering, deemed the punishment to be of little concern, sang hymns, sang praises, performed psalms and pursued prayer, by which they might prevail to obtain victory with the Lord's support. They were visited by the angels, illustrated with miracles, and the bonds flew apart and did not dare to bind those whom God had absolved. There also they recognised through God's revelation what sort of light they had in the heavens. Subsequently, remaining sure of the palm of victory and gasping more hurriedly to see Christ whom they faithfully served, they extended their death all the way into the fifth day, and late at night they thought they would be held back longer from that sweetness of the kingdom of the heavens, which they almost beheld now with frequent bodily visions.

But when they were led out to be laid low in the forum, the venerable Sabigotho began to arm her husband with holy addresses, strengthened him, instructed him and confirmed him. They were led into the palace and brought before the consuls. Wealth was displayed and power was exhibited, which they would enjoy if they believed. But with these people tarrying in the town with their profession, the consuls delegated them to the executioners to be killed, but decreed that Saint Georgius the guest should go away on the grounds that the very same optimates and notables of the palace had heard him bringing forth no insults against their prophet. But as soon as the outstanding minister discovered that he was being abandoned and was not being delegated to be killed under one blow of the sword with his allies, said: 'Why, oh chiefs, do you have doubts about my profession which I did not bring forth in your presence, or do you think that I consider there to be something prosperous about the disciple of Satan? For I, so that you may recognise more truly, believe that the angel, which appeared to your same bringer of precepts by transforming itself into the spirit of light, was a demon. And I deem this man to be more abject than all men, for he was the credulous minister of the devil Antichrist and the labyrinth of all vices, who will not only have immersed himself in the whirlpool of the abyss, but also will have dedicated you followers to the eternal fires through his empty institutes.'

Then the notables were into strong madness ordered the death sentence upon him along with the rest. And thus first killing the blessed Felix, and then Saint Georgius, afterwards they killed the venerable Liliosa, and finally the outstanding strugglers Aurelius and Sabigotho on the sixth day before the Kalends of August, in era 890.[lvi] Our Christians, furious, buried their bodies in various places. So Georgius and Saint Aurelius are kept in the Pinamelariensian monastery. The blessed Felix protects the courtyard of Saint Christophorus that is beyond the river. Saint Sabigotho was united with the ashes of the three saints. The venerable Liliosa rests with Genesius the martyr. Indeed the heads of Georgius and Sabigotho inhabit [...][lvii]

These are those who struggled for the testimony of God and the faith of Jesus Christ all the way to death and put nothing before love of Him, not their sons, not their parents, not neighbours, intimates, friends, affairs, villages, possessions or estates. But throwing all these things behind their back, with their bodies weakened alongside their vices and desires, they were led forth to the eternal immortality, with our Lord Jesus Christ reigning forever. Amen.

Chapter Eleven: Christophorus and Leovigildus the martyr monks

There was also a Christophorus our monk of the same region, a young man born at Cordoba who listened to us from boyhood, followed our teaching and entered the monastery of Saint Martinus, which is in the Cordoban mountain in the place that is called Roiana. He showed that the example of sanctity was abiding in those of pious will. After learning about the killing of the aforementioned saints, he quickly descended into the city and soon did not fear to face the judge and rendering the testimony of truth in the judge's presence he preached the Gospel, preached the holy things of the Lord, exhorted the crowd given to the profanities, refuted those who believed in evil, and affirmed that they would pay the punishment of the eternal fire along with their lying founder of their doctrines. Immediately, the judge, moved with savage fury, ordered him to be confined to the prison, and ordered him to be tormented with rather tight chains.

Then also Leovigildus the monk born at Eliberri,[lviii] of full youth, a holy man, just and fearing, from the monastery of the Saints Iustus and Pastor,[lix] which is in the interior of the Cordoban mountain, in a place called Fraga between the hills of the mountains and the dense woods, neighbouring the small village of Leiulensis that is twenty miles from Cordoba, where he had recentlycome to stay. He arrived intending to obtain martyrdom. And before he should enter the forum, he inquired of us for the sake of his instruction and he beseeched, entreated and begged that we should help his efforts through prayers and hand over to him the blessing of consummating the struggle, promising that he would manage our care before the Lord. And when strengthened by us he departed in peace. He soon came before the judge intending to relate his profession and he gave the testimony of the faith in accordance with the steadfastness that had been shown by the others. Struck with blows and disparaged with insults, he was immediately handed over to be detained in the savage prisons. There the servants of God cherished each other with mutual counsel, and were strengthened by each other. And thus bound by the same desire, when the hour of the slaughter was at hand, Saint Christophorus begged the blessed Leovigildus to precede with the reverence of age, as afterwards he himself would fall. And thus in this order both died on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of September, in the aforementioned era.[lx] Their bodies were burnt with fires placed under but before they could burn within, they were seized by the care of the faithful and buried at the basilica of Saint Zoylus.

Chapter Twelve: Emila and Jeremiah the martyrs

Not much later, two young people, illustrious ones born from a noble family of Cordoban citizens, rushed to the palaestra of martyrdom. They were Emila and Hiermias, who from their infancy studied literature at the basilica of Saint Cyprianus. One was consecrated to the ministry of deacon, the other spent time simply in layperson habit. And as both men excelled remarkably in Arabic tongue, they say that Emila heaped up reproaches through the same language against their prophet with such great fluency, that they forgot the insults of the preceding martyrs, for they saw that the pursuits of these people were rather sharply growing against their dogmatist. And thus now not only did they begin to consider how to kill these resisters, but also they considered destroying the whole church. For the heathens, struck with very much terror because of the fact that so many men were rushing to the martyrdom, thought that the destruction of their kingdom was imminent, since they saw that young people were bound also with such virtue, whom they tormented in prison and finally killed with the sword as vengeance. And while the entire day had been marked by clear serenity, suddenly at the same hour in which they were beheaded, a violent crash of thunder arose and struck the earth, and the air scattered the glowing lightning bolts. You would think that the upper axes were being torn asunder. The sky was armed with the cloud of hail storms, the day was obscured and the air was tinged with whirlwinds. The elements professed that the pious athletes had fallen. They suspended their bodies on racks and fixed them beyond the river on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of October, in the aforementioned era.[lxi]

Chapter Thirteen: Concerning the martyrs Rogelius and Serviodeo

When the prisons still had the aforementioned martyrs, behold two others came forth, holding the same profession as the rest and attacking the enemy of the faith with the same vow. One of these who arrived was born at Eliberri, a monk from a village that is called Parapanda, and he was a eunuch and already an old man of advanced old age. His name was Rogelius. The other was called Serviodeo, a eunuch still a young man, who came as a foreigner a few years before from the eastern regions beyond the sea. He came to the aforementioned city intending to live there. These men, binding themselves with the same pact, brought forth one vow of struggling for the justice of God all the way to death, not intending to recede from each other by any mishap, so that they should merit the realms of heaven by their blood. And so seeking that temple of sacrileges, in which the received crowd gathered rather often to fulfil the abominable rites, they passed the threshold, got themselves into the crowds, preached the Gospel, insulted the sect of impiety and refuted the gathering. They affirmed that the kingdom of the heavens was at hand for the faithful, but the demise of Gehennam for the infidels, and they would undoubtedly incur this end, unless they returned to life.

And as they exhorted the people with these words of this sort, the words had not yet receded from their mouth, when suddenly, like a pyre rustling amid thorn-bushes, a cohort of the malignant people burning in rage against the servants of God beat, lacerated, struck, cast down and strove to kill the saints, who had presumed to enter their temple, because they also consider it a great crime in their view, and if there had been no judge present, who through a certain privilege of his power restrained the grumbling of the raging people, they would have then and there been deprived of their breaths of life. He had them snatched away from the hands of the beaters and confined to prison and ordered them to be drawn tight with iron. He confined them with the thieves. Even there they still preached, prophesied, and announced that death was imminent for the tyrant. They praised the religion and refuted the falsehood. And although vigour was lacking for their limbs within in order to bear the punishment, nonetheless the tongue did not cease from preaching the oracle of truth all the way till death. But indeed since the two had entered their temple evangelising, the tyrants and consuls decreed that first their hands and feet should be cut off and then they should be beheaded. The servants of Christ rejoiced at such a decree, and were cheerful as they were to receive the sentence of this sort in the town. The most ferocious executioner pressed on, shouted, raged, and made threats, and ordered the elect to hurry to the punishment. People saw the two had a greater desire of migrating from this life, than the same man had of bringing about their demise. Who is to explain the cruelty of that hour, oh most dear brothers? Who is to report the disasters, who is to announce the crucifixions, who in short is to narrate the admirable steadfastness of these saints, when the heathens themselves, astounded by such a spectacle, felt something rather indulgent about Christianity?

Therefore placed at the site of the beheading, the holy martyrs, before the guard advised, extended their palms, prepared their upper arms. Receiving the imposed slaughter with the span of their outstretched arms, their hands jumped in different directions. Then when their legs cut off, they were afflicted with no sadness, and finally they fell when they were beheaded. They fixed the two men's corpses, maimed as they were, to gibbets beyond the river, adding them to the crucifixes of the rest on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of October, in the aforementioned era.[lxii]

Chapter Fourteen: The plan to destroy the Christians, which the king entered into with the notables

Moreover, the heathens were very much disturbed by the cause of the martyrs, and the king himself, roused into the greatest fury, considered various things in his heart, by which he might be able to repress the intention of the saints. Also he consulted the wise, explored with the philosophers and inquired with the consuls of his kingdom about this matter. They all unanimously conspired to destroy the faithful and decreed that the Christians should be arrested and bound under the most restricted prisons. Then indeed without doubt was the difficulty of killing, if any other rash curser of their prophet should arise further. We wretched ones, having discovered this pronouncement, fled in different directions, went away, wandered away, went into hiding and with timid running in different directions and with habit changed, we seized the nocturnal silences. As the leaves fell we were driven away, we frequently changed residences, we sought safer places and trembling we fled in different directions far and wide, fearing to die through the sword, even though we were going to die necessarily at some point. Indeed we fled the brave martyrdom not because we fear death, which is inevitably coming at some point, but because we are unworthy of martyrdom, which has been given to certain people and not to all people. For those who are now made martyrs and are to be made martyrs have been prescribed as such from the beginning of the world, as the apostle says: 'He has known them beforehand and has predestined them to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He himself should be the firstborn among many brothers. But those He has predestined, He has also called them, and those He has called, He has also glorified them.'[lxiii]

Chapter Fifteen: The disturbance of the Christians and the various opinions of the same people on the council of the bishops convened at Cordoba.

Many therefore were useless to the Lord's granary, having been cast out from the apostolic net. They did not merit for the vessels to store them as good men, but rather as chaff they merited to be confined to the inextinguishable fire. They refused to flee, endure and even hide with us, and they abandoned piety, erred in faith, abdicated their religion, and detested the Crucified. Regrettably, they handed themselves to impiety and submitted their becks to the demons, blasphemed, detracted and undermined the Christians. Also very many of the priests and lay people, who previously preached with us the victories of the martyrs with sound sense, praised their steadfastness, praised their trophies and extolled their struggle, now changed their opinion, felt otherwise, and judged as indiscrete those they previously asserted were most felicitous, because the saints, not wanting to endure with weaker ones, rather decided to seek their peace and tranquillity, which they believed they would earn through their blood in the heavens, instead of looking out for the Church that was tottering amid the rocks of the treacherous. It was as though those people strove to strengthen the change of their mouth and the changeability of their tongue through certain maxims from the law. But they did not consider that no one prescribed for such great military service, and to be reckoned part of the assembly house of heaven, could be retained by the mortal bonds, with the hour of vocation at hand. This is so even as they read everyday with us in the sacred Scriptures that neither life, nor savage dangers, nor even death itself can ever prevail to snatch away the Saints from the kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ.[lxiv]

But there were also those who from the beginning did not cease to defame the acts of the saints and tried to subvert their intention with their disgraceful whispering. They cruelly directed against us war that they could not bring on the glorious soldiers, and asserted that we were responsible for this matter and made the accusation that all those things were perpetrated by our instigation. There was a certain exceptor of the state of that time, powerful in vices and riches and only nominally Christian, but unknown in works to God and His angels, and hostile from the beginning to the struggles of the blessed, as well as their detractor, diminisher and defamer. He was unjust, bombastic, arrogant, proud and dishonourable. On a certain day in the present council of the bishops he moved his tongue against me and heaped up many insults. He decreed the pronouncement of anathema on the saints contemplating such things, ordered to curse them, and ordered to persecute the elect with his pen, fearing most unhappily of all that he would endure the loss of his honour, as he was not only eager to show no reverence to the saints, but also he ordered to preach among the peoples that what they do is evil.

And although we were driven by fear or the judgement of the metropolitan bishops (who for the same reason were then brought together from various provinces by the king) and thus discussed something that might prevail upon on the ears of the tyrant himself and the peoples, the letter declared, after the pontifical decree was sent forth, that the martyrdom was banned and no one from hereon was allowed to rush to the palaestra of the profession. But the same letter hardly at all attacked the struggle of those falling and it was to be understood that it extolled in praiseworthy terms the soldiers to come. Yet since the letter was brought out in allegorical terms, that could only be noticed by the prudent. However, we do not think that the decision for dissimulation was without blame, because bearing one thing and sounding another it seemed as though it checked the common people from the rush of martyrdom. Indeed we profess at least for the common people that there should only be remission through a legitimate excuse.

Chapter Sixteen: Abdarragman the king suddenly dies; his son Mahomat[lxv] succeeds into the kingdom.

In short when the demise was overhanging the Christians from every side and the threat of the leader burning with immense fury was compelling many of the elect to err, many brought against us the Israelite rebuke when they saw they were being rather heavily oppressed, as they said: 'Let the Lord see and judge because you have made our sweat stink in the presence of this tyrant and his servants and you have provided them the sword to kill us.'[lxvi] For with the number of martyrs growing the anger of the leader grew more and the disturbance of the faithful was increased, so that our mishaps were almost reckoned as being equivalent to the persecutions of the Pharaoh that once arose against Israel. Indeed just as on account of Moses' intervention with the Pharoah, the Egyptians raged more fiercely against God's people and oppressed them, subdued as they were, with the unbearable calamity of very heavy works, so also because the saints descended to the battle to speak in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of the king and profess to the consuls and judges the truth of the Gospel and bring forth the falsehood of the unjust prophet, we were uprooted more harshly than usual and from the roots we proceeded to be destroyed by the ministers of the demons.

And since we were bound by such great pressure and we more frequently lamented and as our people hid and wandered, the pontifex was handed over again to the horrible chasm of the prisons and no one of the noble laypeople dared to enter through the doorways, for they feared future imprisonment on the day after tomorrow. The king began to seek heights of the temples and ascended the sublime terrace intending to survey the towns. And immediately he saw the bodies of the saints from the region hanging on the trunks. Forthwith he ordered them to be burned with kindled fires placed under them. Their ashes, with God's support, were buried throughout the holy sites. And oh power of the Saviour to be admired and stupendous power of our Lord Jesus Christ, who always attends in the tribulation when sought: having been knocked it opens, and having been invoked it hears! For that mouth, which ordered the saints of God to be burnt, was suddenly obstructed by divine intervention at the same hour, and indeed his tongue, thanks to the angel's strike, was repressed and clinging to his palate could speak no further. And thus led back into his bed by the hands of the carriers, he gave up the ghost at a certain hour of the same night, before the pure of the corpses of the saints could be extinguished. So the same man, deprived of life, was delegated to the eternal furnace, leaving his first-born son Mahomad as the successor of the empire. He was an enemy of the church of God and a malicious persecutor of the Christians, who with a seemingly inborn hatred rather often held investigations against the faithful and appeared to be no inferior in merits to that man, by whose name he was distinguished. For on the day when he obtained the sceptre of the kingdom, he ordered the Christians to be removed from the palace, deprived them of dignity, rendered them without honour. He also arranged many bad things afterwards to be imposed against us, in the hope that he might obtain success in rule and prosperous outcomes. But we, placing our hope for safety in the Lord as the end of this work is at hand, do not fear what this man will do to us, for we believe that everywhere we will be saved by the intervention of our advocate Lord Jesus Christ, who says: 'Behold I am with you in all days until the consummation of this age.' Amen.

The prayer of the same Eulogius to Christ to complement his book and for every lapse that has been committed in this work.

Behold, my Lord God, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, our true Emmanuel, the beginning of my life, the fulness of my spirit, the perfection of my salvation, inflamed as I am by zeal for you, driven by the love of your saints, compelled by the kindness of the brothers, having felt sympathy for the tottering of the people of little thought, moved by the hatred of your enemies, so little as I am in knowledge, lacking in ingenuity, devoid of intellect, grateful as I am for the spectacle of your goodness and mercy, relying on your piety and strengthened by your clemency. So by your help I have completed this work I began, and I have concluded it as I could, not as I should have, or rather I should say as you have allowed me to do so. I have opened my mouth, oh Lord, and I have spoken because you ordered, and as you wanted, you have filled, and you have compelled my heart, cast down as it is with iniquity, to narrate the most just acts of your just people. You have armed my tongue, impeded as it is with crimes, to proclaim your praises and you have preserved my mouth, which the bolt of vices had obstructed for a long time, to elaborate on your faithful testaments, endowed as it has been suddenly with a certain agony. I feared, oh my Lord God, my works and remained worried about my own crime. Although I put off the remedy of emendation, nonetheless I pondered the testimony that was rather often proven about my iniquities within my very self, I considered my judgement, I considered the due defence of the charge against me, and as my mind, worried as it was by its failures, knew that the news of its deed remained with you, it hardly dared to strive for heaven. You indeed deign to push my tongue as though it is suitable to ordain the heavenly sacraments for your ministers. For because I intended to construct material of such great merit through my own scarce merits and because I explained things of morality although I am impure and because I explained the holy things of the saints although I am dirty, I did not rely on the pomposity of pride, but humble and abject I did this in order to acquire rewards and acquire the patronage of the saints, and indeed so that I should not be ungrateful for the talent brought together through Your power or also lest matters worthy of heaven should be handed over to perpetual forgetting with no one stipulating.

You, Lord God, have known my love, have penetrated my intention, have understood my vow and have not ignored the cause of discussing such things. You have given instinct to a small person, You have helped a very wretched effort, You have raised an insignificant person to grand things and have made a weak one lively. For, oh my Lord God, did I not think myself to be chosen beforehand for such great things, that at last I should be the compiler of the deeds of the saints, even as I was a committer of grave sins. Surely You will be witness, if I lie? If I construe falsehood, surely You see? If I affirm otherwise than what was, will You be able to overlook? If I do not bring forth the truth, it cannot hide from You, as You have known all things? Certainly You consider all things, penetrate all things, understand what is secret, see what is profound and every secret thing is laid open to You and as all that is past and to come remains in the present for You: all these things will be recorded in Your volume. And that which the mind called forth has considered by Your inspiration and that which it has brought out having been endowed with the virtue of the heavenly graces and that which it has striven for having been goaded by the allurements of false praise and that which it incurs in the same place through the lapse of the tongue: these things remain stored with You and all have been noted down in Your books of scrutiny.

From here returning to You, my Lord God, even as I am corrupted by various crimes, much involved in crime, very guilty of iniquity, I beseech, beg and implore that You give regard to the one begging about that blessed seat of the ineffable clemencies, look on the one worried, attend to the one asking, so that first purifying the hidden recesses of my heart You always render me free to profess You, and from there You purify the measure of this book, if the subtle circumvention of the tempter has spread any cockle of wicked sense in it without my will, and if it has seeded any cockles of devious words without my knowledge. Whatever breathes with the mishap of error in the same place, whatever resonates as unpolished, whatever is divorced from You, whatever is far removed from You, everything that does not know You, all things that oppose You and cheat Your will and do not know piety: my Almighty God, clear all these things out, cleanse all things and sanctify all things through purification, so that this work may be both acceptable to my Lord God and most gracious to Your holy angels, and so that it may obtain Your grace for me, imbibe the blessing of the saints, obtain the peace of the churches, bestow for You the moment of this time, review in Your presence the calamities of Your people and turning You with the regard of pity over my hiding place, where I dictate these things, it may absolve every crime, to which the cunning of the tempter enticed me through prior rite with fragility yielding. Let this be the guardian of my crown, let this be the protector of my life, let this be the one that carries me forward to the eternal rewards, so that the same thing sanctified through You may be called Memoriale Sanctorum and You may inscribe me among the memories of Your elect at their request, through You our Lord, who are one with the Father and Holy Spirit, the eternal and immoral God forever. Amen.

Notes

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[i] i.e. 850 CE.

[ii] Abd al-Rahman II, Umayyad amir of Córdoba in the period 822-852 CE.

[iii] Iberia.

[iv] Saint Acisclus was a martyr of Córdoba during the third and fourth centuries CE in the Roman era.

[v] Matthew 24:24.

[vi] The story of Zainab bint Jahsh and Zayd bin Haritha, though note he had been the Prophet Muhammad's adopted son. The story is also mentioned in the biography of the Prophet brought forth in Eulogius' work in defence of the martyrs of Córdoba.

[vii] Likely Arabic equivalent: صلى الله على النبي وسلم (salla Allah 'ala al-nabi wa salam), though the more accurate rendering of this phrase is 'God's peace and blessings be upon the Prophet' rather than the translation given by Eulogius. When Muslims mention the the Prophet, it is customary to say 'God's peace and blessings be upon him.'

[viii] Referring to the month of Ramadan for the Muslims, in which there is abstinence from eating, drinking and sexual activity during the daytime.

[ix] This is not actually in the first book as it has come down to us. Perhaps a later editor or scribe removed it. I think that Eulogius' point here is either that the daytime fasting (which involves abstinence from food, drink and sexual activity) leads to excess gluttony and libido at night when the fast is broken, or this excess gluttony and libido occur in the Eid al-Fitr celebrations that follow Ramadan. The latter interpretation seems to be more likely.

[x] Referring to the death of Arius (the founder of the Arian trend in Christianity that was deemed heretical) from diarrhoea/dysentery. A similar end is said to have befallen the Ostrogothic king Theoderic the Great (who was himself an Arian Christian), as related in the Anonymus Valesianus II.

[xi] i.e. 18 April 850 CE, which fell on a Friday.

[xii] His story also appears in Book One of the Memoriale Sanctorum.

[xiii] A notary/secretary role.

[xiv] i.e. 3 June 851 CE, which fell on a Wednesday.

[xv] The exact identity and location of the town noted here by Eulogius are uncertain. Gallia Comata traditionally referred to the side of Gaul in what is now France lying beyond the Alps. Some scholars identify the location with Albi, which lies to the northeast of Toulouse in France. Another suggestion is that the correct form of 'Albensi' in the Latin text is 'Alabensi' and that the location is Álava in what is now the Basque country in northern Spain. See 'San Sancho. Un santo...alavés (aunque no de Alba)' by Ángel Ibisate Lozares (2008).

[xvi] i.e. Córdoba.

[xvii] i.e. 5 June 851 CE, which fell on a Friday.

[xviii] Now the town of Écija in Andalusia.

[xix] Perhaps to be identified with the site of Ilipa near Seville.

[xx] Another Christian martyr of Córdoba during the third and fourth centuries CE during the Roman period.

[xxi] Now called the Guadalmellato, which is a tributary of the Guadalquivir.

[xxii] A Christian martyr of the third century CE during the Roman period.

[xxiii] The Guadalquivir.

[xxiv] Satan.

[xxv] 7 June 851 CE, which fell on a Sunday.

[xxvi] Appears to refer to Colonia Pacensis, which is now identified with Beja in modern-day Portugal.

[xxvii] 16 July 851 CE, which fell on a Thursday.

[xxviii] 20 July 851 CE, which fell on a Monday.

[xxix] 25 July 851 CE, which fell on a Saturday.

[xxx] Referring to Complutum, which equates to modern-day Acalá de Henares near Madrid.

[xxxi] Exact location uncertain. One view claims that the martyrdom occurred at Castrovieji near Nájera in northern Spain. Another view holds that Nunilo and Alodia were from southern Spain. See Alwyn Harrison, 'Andalusi Christianity: The survival of indigenous Christian communities' (p. 85).

[xxxii] 22 October 851 CE.

[xxxiii] Seville.

[xxxiv] John 14:23.

[xxxv] Romans 10:10.

[xxxvi] Matthew 10:32-33.

[xxxvii] Now the site of Martos in Andalusia.

[xxxviii] Noted elsewhere in the Mozarabic writings I have translated.

[xxxix] Matthew 18:20.

[xl] One of Eulogius' surviving works.

[xli] 24 November 851 CE.

[xlii] 29 November 851 CE.

[xliii] Three martyrs of Córdoba from the Roman era.

[xliv] 13 January 852 CE.

[xlv] Cf. 2 Samuel 1:23.

[xlvi] Cf. Luke 12:4-5.

[xlvii] John 4:24.

[xlviii] Matthew 19:21.

[xlix] Matthew 3:7-9.

[l] Matthew 8:11-12.

[li] Cf. Psalm 8:3.

[lii] Álvaro of Córdoba.

[liii] Matthew 18:20.

[liv] Cf. Matthew 8:11.

[lv] Psalm 33:2.

[lvi] 27 July 852 CE.

[lvii] Corruption and gap in the original text.

[lviii] Granada.

[lix] Christian martyrs of the third and fourth centuries CE, during the Roman period.

[lx] 20 August 852 CE.

[lxi] 15 September 852 CE.

[lxii] 16 September 852 CE.

[lxiii] Romans 8:29-30.

[lxiv] Cf. Romans 8:35-36.

[lxv] Muhammad I, Umayyad amir of Córdoba in the period 852-886 CE.

[lxvi] Cf. Exodus 5:21.