Martyrdom
of Saint Eulogius of Cordova, at Cordova cathedral
Saint Euloge de Cordoue, évêque et martyr
Fils d’un sénateur de Cordoue, très cultivé, saint Euloge, archevêque de Cordoue, composa une "Exhortation au martyre" pour encourager les chrétiens à affronter la menace de l'Islam. L'émir leur laissait la liberté d'exercer leur culte, mais les soumettait à de très lourds impôts. Las d'être traités en parias, beaucoup étaient tentés d’abjurer leur foi. Lui-même fut plusieurs fois arrêté et, alors qu’il venait d’être élu archevêque de Tolède, il le fut une dernière fois parce qu'il avait recueilli une jeune musulmane devenue chrétienne, et que ses parents maltraitaient pour cette raison. Il fut fouetté puis décapité en 859.
St. Eulogio, Capilla de San Eulogio, Catedral de
Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (La Mezquita), Córdoba
Saint Euloge
Martyr à Cordoue (+ 859)
et sainte Léocricia, martyrs.
Très cultivé, saint Euloge, archevêque de Cordoue, composa une "Exhortation au martyre" pour encourager les chrétiens à affronter l'Islam. L'émir leur laissait la liberté d'exercer leur culte, mais les soumettait à de très lourds impôts. Las d'être traités en parias, beaucoup étaient tentés de se convertir à l'Islam. Il fut arrêté parce qu'il avait recueilli Léocricia, une jeune musulmane, devenue chrétienne, et que ses parents maltraitaient pour cette raison. Il fut fouetté puis décapité. Léocricia montra autant d'intrépidité.
À Cordoue en Andalousie, l’an 859, saint Euloge, prêtre et martyr. Suivant les traces des saints martyrs de cette ville, dont il composa le mémorial, il fut décapité à cause de son éclatante confession du Christ.
Martyrologe romain
Prêtre et Martyr
(859)
Euloge, né à Cordoue, appartenait à l'une des plus illustres familles de cette
ville; mais sa principale noblesse était celle de la science et de la vertu.
Les Maures avaient envahi sa patrie et persécutaient le nom chrétien. Euloge,
sans jamais faiblir, lutta avec persévérance contre leur influence perverse et
contre les chrétiens traîtres et perfides qui cherchaient à entraîner leurs
frères dans une honteuse apostasie. Que d'âmes durent à son zèle ardent, à ses éloquents
écrits, à ses exhortations enflammées, de demeurer fidèles à Jésus-Christ!
C'est surtout grâce à lui que l'on vit une nouvelle et magnifique floraison de
victimes immolées pour la foi, fleurs parfumées qui embaumèrent le jardin de
l'Église et furent plus tard pour l'Espagne la source de grandes bénédictions.
Euloge lui-même recueillit les noms et les actes de ces généreux martyrs. Mais
il allait bientôt, lui aussi, se joindre à eux et conquérir la couronne
glorieuse qu'il avait méritée à tant d'autres.
Le premier soin du savant prêtre, quand il comparut devant son juge, fut de lui
exposer avec vigueur les impostures et les erreurs de Mahomet, et de l'engager
à se faire lui-même disciple de Jésus-Christ, unique Sauveur du monde. Furieux
d'une si sainte audace, le juge ordonne de le frapper à coups de fouets jusqu'à
ce qu'il expire: "Vous auriez bien plus tôt fait, lui dit Euloge, de me
condamner à mourir par le glaive, car sachez bien que je suis prêt à mourir
plusieurs fois pour Jésus-Christ!"
Conduit devant le conseil du prince musulman, le vaillant prêtre se mit encore
à prêcher hardiment l'Évangile avec tant de véhémence que, pour échapper à ses
arguments victorieux, on se hâta de le condamner à avoir la tête tranchée.
Comme on le conduisait au supplice, l'un des soldats lui donna un soufflet;
Euloge, se souvenant des enseignements de son divin Maître, tendit l'autre joue
sans se plaindre, et le misérable osa le frapper de nouveau.
Quand le Saint fut arrivé au lieu du supplice, il pria à genoux, étendit les
mains vers le Ciel, fit le signe de la Croix et unit ses souffrances et son
martyre aux souffrances et à la mort de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ sur la
Croix; puis il tendit sa tête au bourreau et consomma son sacrifice. Les
fidèles rachetèrent du bourreau la tête de saint Euloge, et donnèrent à son
corps une sépulture honorable.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie
des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_euloge.html
Saint Euloge, né à
Cordoue, au commencement du IXe siècle, appartenait à l’une des plus illustres
familles de cette ville ; mais sa principale noblesse était celle de la science
et de la vertu, et il fut, sans aucun doute, la première gloire de l’Espagne à
cette époque.
Les Maures avaient envahi
sa patrie et persécutaient le nom Chrétien. Saint Euloge, sans jamais faiblir,
lutta avec persévérance contre leur influence perverse et contre les chrétiens
traîtres et perfides qui cherchaient à entraîner leurs frères dans une honteuse
apostasie.
Que d’âmes durent à son
zèle ardent, à ses éloquents écrits, à ses exhortations enflammées, de demeurer
fidèles à Jésus-Christ ! C’est surtout grâce à lui que l’on vit une nouvelle et
magnifique floraison de victimes immolées pour la Foi, fleurs parfumées qui
embaumèrent le jardin de l’Église et furent plus tard pour l’Espagne la source
de grandes bénédictions.
Saint Euloge lui-même
recueillit les noms et les actes de ces généreux Martyrs. Mais il allait
bientôt, lui aussi, se joindre à eux et conquérir la couronne glorieuse qu’il
avait méritée à tant d’autres. Le premier soin du savant prêtre, quand il
comparut devant son juge, fut de lui exposer avec vigueur les impostures et les
erreurs de Mahomet, et de l’engager à se faire lui-même disciple de
Jésus-Christ, unique Sauveur du monde.
Furieux d’une si sainte
audace, le juge ordonne de le frapper à coups de fouets jusqu’à ce qu’il expire
: « Vous auriez bien plutôt fait, lui dit saint Euloge, de me condamner à
mourir par le glaive, car sachez bien que je suis prêt à mourir plusieurs fois
pour Jésus-Christ. »
Conduit devant le conseil
du prince musulman, le vaillant prêtre se mit encore à prêcher hardiment
l’Évangile avec tant de véhémence, que, pour échapper à ses arguments
victorieux, on se hâta de le condamner à avoir la tête tranchée.
Comme on le conduisait au
supplice, l’un des soldats lui donna un soufflet ; saint Euloge, se souvenant
des enseignements de son divin Maître, tendit l’autre joue sans se plaindre, et
le misérable osa le frapper de nouveau.
Quand le Saint fut arrivé
au lieu du supplice, il pria à genoux, étendit les mains vers le Ciel, fit le
signe de la croix et unit ses souffrances et son martyre aux souffrances et à
la mort de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ sur la croix ; puis il tendit sa tête au
bourreau et consomma son sacrifice, le 11 mars 859, saint Nicolas Ier étant
pape, Michel III l’Ivrogne empereur de Byzance et Charles le Chauve roi de
France.
Les fidèles rachetèrent
du bourreau la tête de saint Euloge, et donnèrent à son corps une sépulture
honorable. Un ami du saint prêtre écrivit son histoire, qui demeure comme l’un
des plus précieux monuments parmi tant d’autres qui rappellent l’héroïsme des
Martyrs.
SOURCE : http://www.cassicia.com/FR/Vie-de-saint-Euloge-ne-a-Cordoue-vers-l-an-800-Fete-le-11-mars-Pretre-martyr-des-musulmans-No_1246.htm
Stiftskirche
Heilig Kreuz, Horb am Neckar, Orgelempore (evtl. von Anton Hermann,
1781-1782): Hl. Eulogius von Córdoba († 859) im Gewand der Horber
Stiftsprediger
SAINT EULOGE DE CORDOUE,
MARTYR (+ 859) 16 janvier
(translation) - 11 mars (martyre) – 1 juin (élévation)
Euloge, d'une des
premières familles de Cordoue, fut confié dès sa jeunesse à la communauté des
Prêtres de Saint-Zoïle et se forma sous leur direction à la piété et à la
science sacrée. On remarqua en lui un vif attrait pour l'étude des Saints
Livres; il s'appliqua à en pénétrer le sens et en fit l'objet préféré de ses
méditations. Il se mit ensuite sous la conduite d'un pieux et savant Abbé,
nommé Espérandieu, qui gouvernait le Monastère de Cutelar près Cordoue : c'est
là qu'il connut son biographe Alvare, et se lia d'une étroite amitié avec lui.
En sortant de cette école, Euloge parut comme un homme consommé en sagesse et
exercé dans la pratique des vertus; son humilité surtout, puis sa douceur et sa
charité lui concilièrent l'estime, le respect, l'affection de tous ceux qui le
connurent. Il enseigna pendant quelque temps les lettres à Cordoue, fut élevé
au diaconat et, bientôt après, au sacerdoce.
Attaché au service d'une
église, il fut pour tous, Prêtres et fidèles, un modèle de continence, de
piété, d'ascèse. Il dressa des règles pour ceux qui servent Dieu dans les
communautés, vécut lui-même comme un vrai Moine dans le clergé, se montra un
ecclésiastique parfait au milieu des Moines. Après avoir visité les monastères
de son pays, il voulut voir ceux des provinces éloignées pour en confronter les
constitutions avec les règles dressées par lui, et recueillir ce qu'il trouverait
de meilleur. Il revint ensuite à Cordoue pour travailler avec une nouvelle
ardeur à l'oeuvre de sa sanctification.
En 850, la vingtième
année du règne d'Abdérame, les Maures, pris d'une fureur subite qu'on ne put
s'expliquer, commencèrent à persécuter les Chrétiens. Un évêque d'Andalousie,
nommé Récarède soit par apostasie, soit par faiblesse en face de là violence,
se fit l'instrument de cette nouvelle persécution : il fit arrêter les Prêtres
de Cordoue avec leur Evêque. Tous furent enfermés dans les prisons. Euloge
était parmi eux : il employa le temps de sa détention à prier, à encourager ses
frères. Il composa une exhortation au martyre pour deux Vierges, nommées Flore
et Marie. Ces Saintes filles, dociles à ses instructions, souffrirent généreusement
le martyre l'année suivante. Euloge et les autres prisonniers en rendirent
grâces au Seigneur : quand ils sortirent de prison quelques jours après leur
supplice, Euloge se hâta d'écrire l'histoire de ce supplice pour exciter les
autres confesseurs à imiter leur exemple.
Profitant ensuite de la
liberté qui lui était laissée, il travailla par ses prédications et ses écrits
à instruire les fidèles. Son zèle fut couronné de succès; sous Mohammed, fils
d'Abdérame, il empêcha beaucoup de Chrétiens faibles de renier Jésus-Christ, et
il envoya au martyre des Moines, des ecclésiastiques, des personnes mariées. Il
recueillit ensuite les Actes de ces Martyrs, en composa trois livres sous le
titre de Mémorial; en même temps, dans une Apologétique, il justifiait la
conduite de ces héros.
Lorsque vers la fin de
858, l'Archevêque de Tolède vint à mourir, le clergé et les fidèles donnèrent
leurs suffrages à Euloge : c'est qu'en effet, il était considéré comme le
premier homme de l'Église d'Espagne par sa doctrine, sa capacité, sa vertu, comme
aussi par le courage avec lequel il avait confessé la Foi de Jésus-Christ
devant les persécuteurs. Mais Dieu voulut le rappeler à Lui, avant qu'il pût
être sacré. Il y avait à Cordoue une Vierge chrétienne, nommée Léocritie,
convertie toute jeune à la Foi de Jésus-Christ par l'une de ses parentes.
Maltraitée par les siens
demeurés païens ou mahométans, en danger d'apostasier, si elle cédait à leurs
menaces, cette jeune fille vint chercher un refuge près d'Euloge qui la prit
sous sa protection, la confia à sa soeur, l'instruisit plus amplement de ses
devoirs, fortifia ses résolutions et la fit mettre en sûreté chez un ami. Les
parents de Léocritie soupçonnèrent ce qui s'était passé, prétendirent qu'il y
avait eu enlèvement de leur fille, et se firent autoriser par le magistrat à
ouvrir une enquête. A cette occasion, beaucoup de personnes furent saisies et
soumises à la question. Pendant ce temps, Euloge veillait sur sa protégée, la
faisait passer secrètement d'une maison dans une autre, affermissait sa Foi et
la préparait au martyre, car il lui était difficile d'y échapper. Il passait
les nuits en prières pour elle dans l'église de Saint-Zoïle; de son côté,
Léocritie veillait, jeûnait, couchait sur la cendre pour se préparer au combat.
A la fin, tous deux
furent arrêtés; on les jeta en prison et on les traduisit devant le juge.
Euloge fut accusé d'avoir
séduit Léocritie, de l'avoir détournée de l'obéissance qu'elle devait à ses
parents; il répondit qu'un Prêtre ne pouvait refuser l'instruction aux personnes
qui la lui demandaient, que selon les principes mêmes des persécuteurs, il
avait eu raison de dire à Léocritie qu'elle devait dans la circonstance
préférer Dieu à ses parents. Il alla même jusqu'à proposer au juge de lui
montrer le chemin du Ciel, comme il l'avait fait pour cette jeune fille, de lui
découvrir les impostures du faux prophète Mahomet et de lui prouver que
Jésus-Christ est l'unique voie par laquelle on arrive au Salut éternel. Il
n'avait pas enseigné autre chose à Léocritie.
Entendant cette
proposition, le juge entra en fureur et fit fouetter Euloge : "Vous auriez
plutôt fait, déclara celui-ci, de me condamner immédiatement à la mort, car de
me faire changer vous n'y pouvez prétendre; je donnerais avec joie plusieurs
vies, si je le pouvais, pour la défense de ma Foi." Le juge, à ces mots,
fit conduire Euloge devant le conseil du roi. Cependant un des conseillers prit
à part le Saint Confesseur; il lui déclara qu'on aurait égard à son mérite et
qu'il serait épargné, s'il consentait à renier de bouche Jésus-Christ devant le
tribunal; à cette condition on lui laisserait toute liberté de demeurer
Chrétien. Indigné d'une telle proposition, Euloge répondit à ce conseiller :
" Si tu pouvais seulement connaître les récompenses qui attendent ceux qui
conservent notre Foi, tu renoncerais aussitôt à toute dignité temporelle pour
les obtenir" . Amené devant le conseil du roi, Euloge parla comme devant
son premier juge : il alla même jusqu'à exposer devant tout l'auditoire les
vérités de l'Évangile : pour ne pas entendre cet enseignement, on le condamna
aussitôt à être décapité.
Comme on le conduisait au
supplice, un eunuque lui donna un soufflet. Euloge, sans se plaindre, lui
présenta l'autre joue; l'infidèle eut l'insolence de la frapper encore. Arrivé
au lieu de l'exécution, Euloge pria à genoux, étendit les mains vers le ciel,
fit le Signe de la Croix sur tout son corps. Puis avec une fermeté admirable,
il présenta la tête au bourreau et consomma ainsi son glorieux martyre, un
samedi (11 mars 859). Léocritie fut décapitée le mercredi suivant, 15 mars. Le
fouet qui est placé près d'Euloge dans l’iconographie, rappelle qu'avant son
dernier supplice il fut cruellement flagellé.
Les écrits d'Euloge que
nous avons énumérés Mémorial des Saints ou Actes des Martyrs de Cordoue en
trois livres; Exhortation au martyre, adressée aux Vierges Flore et Marie;
Apologétique des Martyrs, et un certain nombre de Lettres sont dans P. L., t.
115, col. 736.
Les fidèles de Cordoue
rachetèrent au bourreau la tête d'Euloge et l'enterrèrent avec son corps dans
l'église de Saint-Zoïle, au service de laquelle il avait été attaché comme
Prêtre durant toute sa vie. Le 1er juin 860, on fit l'élévation de son corps,
et parce que le 11 mars, date de sa naissance céleste était ordinairement en
Carême, que, durant ce saint temps, l'Église mozarabe ne célébrait aucune fête,
la mémoire des deux Martyrs Euloge et Léocritie fut célébrée solennellement le
1er juin à Cordoue.
En 883, les deux corps
furent transférés de Cordoue à Oviédo, et on en fit l'anniversaire le 16
janvier. Une troisième translation fut exécutée par les papistes le 9 janvier
1300 à Camarasanta. Ainsi s'explique comment le nom d'Euloge reparaît à ces
diverses dates. Des exemplaires du martyrologe d'Usuard marquent encore ce nom
au 20 septembre.
SOURCE : http://orthodoxie-libre.actifforum.com/t375-saint-martyr-euloge-de-cordoue-1-14-juin
Profile
Son of a senatorial
family from Cordoba, Spain.
Well educated. Priest.
Head of an ecclesiastical school.
Worked to comfort and support Christian martyrs and
their survivors during Islamic persecutions in Moorish occupied Spain. Arrested several
times for his faith,
he wrote Exhortation
to Martyrdom while during one of his imprisonments.
Appointed to succeed the Archbishop of Toledo, Spain,
but was never consecrated. Imprisoned after
he gave shelter to Saint Leocritia
of Cordoba, he preached the
Gospel in court, then in front of the king‘s
counsel. Martyr.
scourged and beheaded 11
March 859 at
Cordoba, Spain
some relics translated
to Paris, France in
the early 860’s
Writings
Apologia
Exhortation to Martyrdom
Memorial of the Saints
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our
Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
Christian
Martyrs in Muslim Spain, by Kenneth Baxter Wolf
images
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio
Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
Martirologio
Romano, 2005 edition
MLA
Citation
“Saint Eulogius of
Cordoba“. CatholicSaints.Info. 24 May 2020. Web. 12 March 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-eulogius-of-cordoba/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-eulogius-of-cordoba/
Eulogius of Córdova M
(RM)
Died 859. In 850, the
Moors of Spain began a systematic persecution of the Christians, probably
because of indiscreet attacks by Christians on Islam or attempted proselytism.
Until that time extra tax had been paid by Christians for the freedom to
worship, but the conversion of a Moor was punishable by death for the convert
and those who helped him. Eulogius, a descendent of a wealthy family that had
owned land near Córdova from the time of the Romans, was one of those arrested
during the outbreak of persecution perhaps due to the injudicious words of
Bishop Reccared of Andalusia.
Eulogius had been
educated by Abbot Sperando and ordained. His younger brother became an
important official in the local Islamic court. From the short biography written
by his friend Alvarus we learn that Eulogius was renowned for his learning and
knowledge of Scriptures, his candor and kindly disposition, and devotion. He
was in the habit of visiting hospitals and monasteries, and, in fact, drew up
the rules for many of the monasteries of Navarre and Pamplona. That Eulogius
was a staunch Catholic, as well as a perceptive one, is evident from his
Exhortation to Martyrdom addressed to two young ladies imprisoned with him,
Saints Flora and Mary.
In it he urged,
"They threaten to sell you as slaves and dishonor you, but be assured that
they cannot injure the purity of your souls, whatever infamy they may inflict
upon you. Cowardly Christians will tell you in order to shake your constancy
that the churches are silent, deserted, and deprived of the sacrifice on
account of your obstinacy. But be persuaded that for you the sacrifice most
pleasing to God is contrition of heart, and that you can no longer draw back or
renounce the truth you have confessed."
Flora and Mary were
beheaded after receiving Eulogius's encouragement, but Eulogius and others were
released a few days later. During the continued persecution the next seven
years, Eulogius was tireless in bolstering the spirits of his fellow
Christians. He collected a record, called the Memorial of the Saints,
describing the sufferings of martyred saint to encourage the persecuted
Christians. There had been a good deal of anti-Islamic agitation, and a church
council in Córdova had warned Christians against deliberately provocative
behavior. Saint Eulogius in an Apologia, defended martyrs who sought death by
proclaiming their faith.
Eulogius was elected
archbishop of Toledo, but never set foot within his see for Eulogius did not
have to wait long for the destiny he urged on others. In 859, he was again
arrested and was martyred for protecting Lucretia (Leocritia), a girl convert
from Islam, whom the law condemned to death for apostasy. Eulogius attempted to
evangelize the kadi before whom he was tried but to no avail. Sentence was
immediately passed and he was beheaded. Lucretia was martyred four days later.
After the translation of Eulogius's remains from Córdoba in 883, the bodies of
Saints Lucretia and Eulogius rest together in the cathedral of Oviedo
(Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).
In art, Saint Eulogius is
a priest with a palm, book, sword in his breast, scimitar in his head, a Moor
at his feet, and a missioner's cross. At times the picture may include (1)
Saint Lucretia who was killed by the Moors with him; (2) Lucretia holding a
palm and book with seven seals; (3) Eulogius holding a heart; (4) a whip; or
(5) Saint Eulogius praying in the wilderness (Roeder). He is the patron of
carpenters and coppersmiths (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0311.shtml
St. Eulogius of Cordova
Spanish martyr and
writer who flourished during the reigns of
the Cordovan Caliphs, Abd-er-Rahman II and Mohammed I
(822-886). It is not certain on what date or in what year
of the ninth century he was born; it must have been previous to 819, because in
848 he was a priest highly
esteemed among the Christians of Catalonia and Navarre,
and priesthood was
then conferred only on men thirty years of age. The family of
the saint was
of the nobility and held land in Cordova from Roman times.
The Mussulman rulers
of Spain,
at the beginning of the eighth
century, tolerated the creed of the Christians and
left them, with some restrictions, their civil rule, ecclesiastical
hierarchy, monasteries,
and property,
but made them feel the burden of subjection in the shape of pecuniary exactions
and military service. In the large cities
like Toledo and Cordova, the civil rule of the Christians did
not differ from that of the Visigothic epoch.
The government was exercised by the comes (count), president of
the council of senators, among whom we meet a similarly named
ancestor of Eulogius. The saint, like his five brothers, received an
excellent education in
accord with his good birth and under the guardianship of his
mother Isabel. The youngest of the brothers, Joseph, held a high
office in the palace of Abd-er-Rahman II; two other
brothers, Alvarus and Isidore, were merchants and traded on a large
scale as far as Central Europe.
Of his sisters, Niola and Anulona, the first remained with her mother; the
second was educated from
infancy in a monastery where
she later became a nun.
After completing his
studies in the monastery of
St. Zoilus, Eulogius continued to live with his family the
better to care for his mother; also, perhaps, to study with famous masters, one
of whom was Abbot Speraindeo, an illustrious writer of that time. In
the meantime he found a friend in the celebrated Alvarus Paulus, a
fellow-student, and they cultivated together all branches of science, sacred and
profane, within their reach. Their correspondence in prose and verse filled
volumes; later they agreed to destroy it as too exuberant and lacking in
polish. Alvarus married, but Eulogius preferred the ecclesiastical career,
and was finally ordained a priest by
Bishop Recared of Cordova. Alvarus has
left us a portrait of his friend: "Devoted", he says, "from his
infancy to the Scriptures, and growing daily in the practice
of virtue, he quickly reached perfection, surpassed in knowledge all
his contemporaries, and became the teacher even of his masters. Mature
in intelligence, though in body a child, he excelled them all in science even
more than they surpassed him in years. Fair in feature [clarus
vultu], honest and honourable, he shone by his eloquence, and
yet more by his works. What books escaped his avidity for reading?
What works of Catholic writers,
of heretics and Gentiles,
chiefly philosophers?
Poets, historians, rare writings, all kinds of books,
especially sacred hymns,
in the composition of which he was a master, were read and digested by him;
his humility was
none the less remarkable and he readily yielded to the judgment of
others less learned than himself." This humility shone
particularly on two occasions. In his youth he had decided to make a foot pilgrimage to Rome;
notwithstanding his great fervour and his devotion to
the sepulchre of the Prince of the Apostles (a
notable proof of
the union of the Mozarabic Church with the Holy
See), he gave up his project, yielding to the advice of prudent friends.
Again, during the Saracenic persecution,
in 850, after reading a passage of the works of St.
Epiphanius he decided to refrain for a time from saying Mass that
he might better defend the cause of the martyrs;
however, at the request of his bishop, Saul of Cordova,
he put aside his scruples. His extant writings are proof that Alvarus did
not exaggerate. They give an account of what is most important from 848 to 859
in Spanish Christianity,
both without and within the Mussulman dominions,
especially of the lives of the martyrs who
suffered during the Saracenic persecution, quorum
para ipse magna fuit. He was elected Archbishop of Toledo shortly
before he was beheaded (11 March, 859). He left a perfect account of
the orthodox doctrine which
he defended, the intellectual culture
which he propagated, the imprisonment and
sufferings which he endured; in a word, his writings show that he followed to
the letter the exhortation of St.
Paul: Imitatores mei estote sicut et ego Christi. He
is buried in the cathedral of Oviedo;
Sources
FUENTE, Hist.
Ec.ca de España (1855), II, 124-26; FLOREZ, España Sagrada, X,
336-471; GAMS, Kirchengesch. Spaniens (1874), II, 229-38;
MIGNE, P.L., CXV, 704-966; SIMONET, Historia de los Mozárabes de
España in Memorias de la Real Academia de la Historia, XIII,
357, 480 (Madrid, 1903); BAUDISSIN, Eulogius und Alvar (Leipzig,
1872); EBERT, Gesch. der lat. Litt. des Mittelalters (Leipzig, 1880),
II, 300-05; BOURRET, Schola Cordubæ Christiana (Paris, 1858), 35-58.
Fita y Colomé, Fidel. "St. Eulogius of Cordova." The
Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton
Company,1909. 13 Sept. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05604a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by WGKofron. In memory of Fr. John
Hilkert, Akron, Ohio. Fidelis servus et prudens, quem constituit Dominus super
familiam suam.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil
Obstat. May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M.
Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin
Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05604a.htm
Pictorial
Lives of the Saints – Saint Eulogius, Martyr
Article
Saint Eulogius was of a
senatorian family of Cordova, at that time the capital of the Moors in Spain.
Our Saint was educated among the clergy of the church of Saint Zoilus, a martyr
who suffered with nineteen others under Dioclesian. Here he distinguished
himself by his virtue and learning; and being made priest, was placed at the
head of the chief ecclesiastical school at Cordova. He joined assiduous
watching, fasting, and prayer to his studies, and his humility, mildness, and
charity gained him the affection and respect of every one. During the
persecution raised against the Christians in the year 850, Saint Eulogius was
thrown into prison and there wrote his Exhortation to Martyrdom, addressed to
the virgins Flora and Mary, who were beheaded the 24th of November, 851. Six days
after their death EuloMarch gius was set at liberty. In the year 852, several
others suffered the like martyrdom. Saint Eulogius encouraged all these martyrs
to their triumphs, and was the support of that distressed flock. The Archbishop
of Toledo dying in 858, Saint Eulogius was elected to succeed him; but there
was some obstacle that hindered him from being consecrated, though he did not
outlive his election two months. A virgin, by name Leocritia, of a noble family
among the Moors, had been instructed from her infancy in the Christian religion
by one of her relations, and privately baptized. Her father and mother used her
very ill, and scourged her day and night to compel her to renounce the faith.
Having made her condition known to Saint Eulogius and his sister Anulona,
intimating that she desired to go where she might freely exercise her religion,
they secretly procured her the means of getting away, and concealed her for
some time among faithful friends. But the matter was at length discovered, and
they were all brought before the cadi, who threatened to have Eulogius scourged
to death. The Saint told him that his torments would be of no avail, for he
would never change his religion. Whereupon the cadi gave orders that he should
be carried to the palace, and presented before the king’s council. Eulogius
began boldly to propose the truths of the gospel to them. But to prevent their
hearing him, the council condemned him immediately to lose his head. As they
were leading him to execution, one of the guards gave him a blow on the face
for having spoken against Mahomet; he turned the other cheek, and patiently
received a second. He received the stroke of death with great cheerfulness on
the nth of March, 859. Saint Leocritia was beheaded four days after him, and
her body thrown into the river Guadalquivir, but taken out by the Christians.
Reflection – Beg of God,
through the intercession of these holy martyrs, the gift of perseverance. Their
example will supply you with an admirable rule for obtaining this crowning
gift. Remember that you have renounced the world and the devil once for all at
your baptism. Do not hesitate; do not look back, do not listen to suggestions
against faith or virtue. But advance, day by day, along- the road which you
have chosen, to God, who is your portion forever.
MLA
Citation
John Dawson Gilmary Shea.
“Saint Eulogius, Martyr”. Pictorial Lives of the
Saints, 1889. CatholicSaints.Info.
2 February 2014. Web. 12 March 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-eulogius-martyr/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-eulogius-martyr/
Martyrdom
of S. Eulogius and S. Leocricia of Cordoba, by Josep Segrelles, plate for Historia
de España,ca. 1910
March 11.—ST. EULOGIUS,
Martyr.
ST. EULOGIUS was of a
senatorian family of Cordova, at that time the capital of the Moors in Spain.
Our Saint was educated among the clergy of the Church of St. Zoilus, a martyr who
suffered with nineteen others under Diocletian. Here he distinguished himself,
by his virtue and learning, and, being made priest, was placed at the head of
the chief ecclesiastical school at Cordova. He joined assiduous watching,
fasting, and prayer to his studies, and his humility, mildness, and charity
gained him the affection and respect of every one. During the persecution
raised against the Christians in the year 850, St. Eulogius was thrown into
prison and there wrote his Exhortation to Martyrdom, addressed to the virgins
Flora and Mary, who were beheaded the 24th of November, 851. Six days after
their death Eulogius was set at liberty. In the year 852 several others
suffered the like martyrdom. St. Eulogius encouraged all these martyrs to their
triumphs, and was the support of that distressed flock. The Archbishop of
Toledo dying in 858. St. Eulogius was
elected to succeed him;
but there was some obstacle that hindered him from being consecrated, though he
did not outlive his election two months. A virgin, by name Leocritia, of a
noble family among the Moors, had been instructed from her infancy in the
Christian religion by one of her relatives, and privately baptized. Her father
and mother used her very ill, and scourged her day and night to compel her to
renounce the Faith. Having made her condition known to St. Eulogius and his
sister Anulona, intimating that she desired to go where she might freely
exercise her religion, they secretly procured her the means of getting away,
and concealed her for some time among faithful friends. But the matter was at
length discovered, and they were all brought before the cadi, who threatened to
have Eulogius scourged to death. The Saint told him that his torments would be
of no avail, for he would never change his religion. Whereupon the cadi gave
orders that he should be carried to the palace and be presented before the
king's council. Eulogius began boldly to propose the truths of the Gospel to
them. But, to prevent their hearing him, the council condemned him immediately
to lose his head. As they were leading him to execution, one of the guards gave
him a blow on the face, for having spoken against Mahomet; he turned the other
cheek, and patiently received a second. He received the stroke of death with
great cheerfulness, on the 11th of March, 859. St. Leocritia was beheaded four
days after him, and her body thrown into the river Guadalquivir, but taken out
by the Christians.
Reflection.—Beg of God,
through the intercession of these holy martyrs, the gift of perseverance. Their
example will supply you with an admirable rule for obtaining this crowning
gift. Remember that you have renounced the world and the devil once for all at
your Baptism. Do not hesitate; do not look back; do not listen to suggestions
against faith or virtue; but advance, day by day, along the road which you have
chosen, to Gods Who is your portion forever.
SOURCE : http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots086.htm
Christian Martyrs in
Muslim Spain
The Life of Eulogius
[51] Of the two men
who witnessed and wrote about the martyrdoms, Eulogius is by far the more
important source. Though Alvarus' works occupy somewhat more of the corpus
muzarabicorum, he devoted no more than a single treatise to the martyrs.
In sharp contrast, everything that Eulogius wrote dealt directly with some
aspect of the martyrdoms.
Eulogius is also the more
historically accessible of the two. We have no biography of Alvarus. Aside from
the references to his social status and educational achievements to be found in
the introductions of letters addressed to him, we are left with nothing more
than Alvarus' own writings which reveal little about their author. Alvarus did,
on the other hand, have something to say about his childhood friend and
lifetime correspondent. His Vita Eulogii, together with the bits and
pieces of information that we can extract from the works of Eulogius, provide
the necessary biographical framework for determining Eulogius' exact role in
the events of the 850s.
Still, the information
that we have is of rather inconsistent quality. Our knowledge of Eulogius'
birth and ancestry is a case in point. According to Alvarus, Eulogius was of
aristocratic stock, "born into a line of senators in the noble city of
Córdoba."(1) But
the biographer noted neither the date of this birth nor the exact significance
of "senator" in ninth-century Córdoba. We also know that Eulogius'
mother was named Elizabeth and that he had at least five siblings,(2) but there is no
mention of his father. On the other hand we know that he had a grandfather
named Eulogius who used to cover his ears and murmur a psalm whenever he heard
the muezzin's call to prayer.(3) It is possible
that Eulogius had some Arab blood in his veins. One of the three confessors to
whom Eulogius [52] claimed some sort of family tie was Christophorus,
whom Alvarus separately described as Harabs genere. But Eulogius
admits no mixed blood, nor does Alvarus ever ascribe such an ancestry to him,
suggesting that the relative that Eulogius and Christophorus shared was a Latin
Christian one.(4)
Eulogius' parents
dedicated him to the church of St. Zoylus, where he came under the highly
formative influence of Abbot Speraindeo.(5) We know very
little about Speraindeo outside of what can be distilled from the praise heaped
upon him by his pupils. The only one of his works that has survived in anything
but a fragmentary state is a brief response to one of Alvarus' letters
describing a local Trinitarian heresy.(6) But all
indications point to his example and instruction as seminal in the formation of
Eulogius' later attitudes.
Under the tutelage of
this man, who was "enriching all of Baetica with the rivers of his
wisdom," Eulogius learned the responsibilities of the priesthood and
studied the patristic authors available in Córdoba at that time. But
Speraindeo's program of instruction also included lessons in the doctrinal
differences that separated Christianity from Islam, lessons designed to prepare
an Andalusian clergyman for the peculiar demands of a religiously pluralistic
environment. By chance a portion of what was probably one of Eulogius'
"textbooks" has survived in one of his later polemical assaults on
the Islamic conception of the afterlife. Quoting from the sixth chapter of one
of Speraindeo's works, Eulogius wrote:
"In the next
life," they say, "all the fortunate shall be born into paradise.
There God will give us beautiful women, more comely than usual, and ready to
serve our pleasure." Response: By no means will they obtain the state of
blessedness in paradise if both sexes partake freely in the flow of desire.
This is not paradise but a brothel, a most obscene place. The Lord, responding
to the Pharisees who had asked whose wife the woman would be upon resurrection
who had married seven brothers so that, according to the Mosaic law, she might
raise up the seed of the next of kin, said: "You err, not knowing the
scripture, nor the power of God. The children of this world marry and are given
in marriage. But they who shall be as angels of God in heaven shall neither
marry nor be given in marriage upon resurrection."(7)
This excerpt indicates
that Speraindeo had composed a lengthy point-by-point rebuttal of Islamic
doctrine. As we shall see later, [53] Eulogius himself frequently
resorted to such scripturally-based diatribes against Islam in his attempts to
justify the martyrs' actions.
It was in the company of
Speraindeo that Eulogius first met Paulus Alvarus, at the time a fellow
student. Years later Alvarus would recall his and Eulogius' reckless habit of
debating doctrinal issues which they were not yet qualified to discuss, and composing
self-congratulatory verse in honor of their naive erudition.(8) As it turned
out, neither ever outgrew his love for poetry or his willingness to leave
accepted authority behind for the sake of winning an argument.
Although the language of
instruction at St. Zoylus' was no doubt Latin, we can be fairly certain that
Eulogius could speak some Arabic. Many of the confessors relied upon a speaking
knowledge of Arabic to kindle the anger of the magistrates, and it is doubtful
that Eulogius was any less exposed to the language than they. At one point the
priest even transliterated and translated, for the benefit of his Latin
readers, an Arabic prayer used by the Muslims who arrested Perfectus.(9)
When Eulogius
achieved juventus, he was promoted first to the diaconate, then to
the priesthood.(10) Later
he became a magister, apparently serving in the same capacity as
Speraindeo, responsible for the training of young clerics.(11) The only
details that we have of this pre-martyrial phase of his priestly life are those
relating to two long journeys, neither of which he was able to complete. As
Alvarus tells us, Eulogius had always dreamed of making a pilgrimage to Rome,
but his responsibilities at home proved far too pressing.(12) He did,
however, find time to undertake an expedition north, one which took him to
Christian Spain. In a letter of thanks to one of his hosts, Bishop Wiliesindus
of Pamplona, Eulogius revealed that his original intention had been to locate
two of his brothers who, for some unrecorded reason, had been detained in
Bavaria.(13) Upon
reaching the Pyrenees, the priest found his route blocked by bandits and the
military machinations of one William who, in alliance with cAbd ar-Rahmân
II, was fighting Charles the Bald. Carolingian chronicles permit the
identification of William as the son of Count Bernard of the Spanish March who
had been executed in 844 for supporting Charles' rival Pepin. Following closely
in his father's [54] footsteps, William managed, in 848 or 849, to
appropriate Barcelona, which he held until succumbing to forces sympathetic to
Charles early in the year 850.(14)
Hoping to find a safer
passage to the west, Eulogius made his way to Pamplona only to encounter more
political instability. This time it centered around Count Sancius Sancio, whom
Eulogius also described as a rebel against Charles' authority in that region.(15) Despairing of
ever connecting with his brother, Eulogius decided to make the most of his
Navarrese detour by visiting the great monasteries of the region. He also took
the opportunity to collect some books that were apparently hard to find in
Córdoba. Not surprisingly, given his love of poetry, the titles included many
works by Virgil, Horace, and Juvenal. Far more remarkable a deficiency of the
Cordoban library, however, was that which Eulogius remedied with his
acquisition of Augustine's City of God. Historians of Muslim Spain
have almost unanimously pointed to the absence of this patristic standard as
symptomatic of the slipping hold that Andalusian Christians had on Latin
Christian culture.
The letter to bishop
Wiliesindus, particularly valuable as a source for students of Spanish monastic
history, poses a slight problem for anyone interested in the precise chronology
of Eulogius' life. Based on the correspondence between the priest's references
to William's civil war and the dated chronicle entries, Elie Lambert and Léonce
Auzias picked 848 and 849 respectively as the most likely years of Eulogius'
expedition.(16) But
Colbert has rightly argued that the year 850, which witnessed the reconquest of
Barcelona by Caroline forces, would fit equally well.(17) It might even
fit better, since the chroniclers both note that William took Barcelona
"through trickery," but lost it in battle, making 850 appear more war
torn in the Barcelona area than either of the two previous years.(18) The
determination of the exact year of the journey is, as Colbert has indicated,
important for figuring out where Eulogius was at the time of the first martyr's
death on April 18, 850. If the priest's problems crossing the Pyrenees were the
result of Charles' efforts to regain control of the Spanish March then Eulogius
was not present when Perfectus was executed.(19)
If Eulogius missed the
execution of Perfectus, he seems to have been back in time to witness Isaac's.
He reported to Wiliesindus that, upon arriving in Córdoba, he "found all
things safe and [55] sound," except that his youngest brother
had been removed, for some unknown reason, from the principatus by cAbd
ar-Rahmân II. But between the time of his return and mid-November 851, when he
composed his letter, the situation had changed quite radically:
We want you, dear father,
to be aware of our tribulation, which we suffer these days on account of our
sins, so that, defended by the shield of your prayers, we may be led out of
this labyrinth of weariness by the unassailable merit of your intercession,
which we are confident is worth a great deal in God's estimation. For in the
present year, which is 889 era [851 C.E.], a fierce, tyrannical
madness, rising up against the church of God, has subverted, laid waste and
dispersed everything, dragging bishops, priests, abbots, deacons and the entire
clergy to prison, consigning them, shackled in iron, to subterranean caves as
if they were dead to the world. Among whom I, your beloved sinner, am also
confined, suffering all of the horrid squalors of prison like everyone else.(20)
Eulogius transformed his
letter of thanks into a prisoner's petition for the type of spiritual aid that
the unafflicted monasteries of the north were most capable of supplying.
This fury. . . has
widowed the church of its sacred ministry, deprived it of its oracle, and
alienated it from its office, to the point that at this time we have access to
no oblation, incense, sacrifice or first fruits through which we might be able
to placate our Lord.(21)
Hoping to circumvent this
gap in spiritual communication, Eulogius promised Wiliesindus some relics of
the Roman martyrs Zoilus and Acisclus to aid in the establishment of a cult in
the north that would prove sympathetic to the plight of the Christians in the
south.(22)
Eulogius did not explain
to the bishop why he and the other equally unfortunate members of the Cordoban
clergy had suffered such a sudden turn of fortune. Nor did he mention Bishop
Reccafredus, whom Alvarus fingered as the one directly responsible for the
arrests. He simply proceeded to describe the heroic efforts of a handful of
confessors who, "armed with zeal," had descended into the forum to
denounce Muhammad and his followers, without any explicit attempt to connect
them to nostra tribulatio. Only toward the very end of his letter did
he suggest why they had been arrested:
We believe that we remain
bound and shackled for this reason: they think that it was by our instigation,
and they ascribe to our instruction, that which these illustrious ones have
done as a result of divine inspiration.(23)
[56] This connection
between the first wave of martyrdoms and the confinement of the Cordoban clergy
provides the only clue as to the date of Eulogius' imprisonment. The radical
denunciations that sealed the fates of Isaac and the ten Christians who
followed him to their deaths all occurred within the months of June and July
851. There were, according to Eulogius' records, no more executions prior to
the very end of his prison term in late November. If the authorities did indeed
arrest the clerics because they regarded them as the instigators of the martyrs
then we would expect that the roundup of priests began shortly after the two
month span of executions, that is, in the late summer or perhaps the early fall
of 851.
In his letter to the bishop
of Pamplona, Eulogius neither admitted nor denied any personal involvement with
the martyrs, but he certainly did not temper his adulation for them. Apparently
confident that the new saints could, along with Acisclus and Zoilus, be
enlisted to aid the struggling Christian community, he ended his letter with a
list of their names and the dates of their deaths, thereby providing the bishop
with the minimal biographical information required for the establishment of a
new cult.(24)
Eulogius' letter to the
bishop of Pamplona was only one of the literary products of his prison months.
As Alvarus tells us, the captive priest passed the hours praying, reading, and
composing a hortative treatise entitled Documentum martyriale.(25) Its purpose
was to encourage two fellow prisoners, the condemned virgins Flora and Maria,
to maintain their resolve to die for their faith.(26)
Eulogius' prison term
also provided him with the forced leisure he needed to complete a project he
had begun before his arrest: the Memoriale sanctorum. In a cover
letter written at some point during his incarceration, Eulogius introduced a
copy of this combination apology and martyrology to Alvarus:
This work was almost
finished when an insane decision on the part of the authorities landed me in
prison . . . I thought that it would end up dispersed all over the place. But
having been preserved at that time by the Lord, now with his help, amidst the
anxieties of prison life, it has not only been completed but delivered to you,
whom the Lord chose to see it before anyone else.(27)
It seems most likely that
Eulogius began writing the Memoriale sanctorum either during or very
shortly after the first wave of [57] martyrdoms. The fact that he
neglected to add any formal closing remarks after the account of Theodemirus'
death on July 25 suggests that he was either uncertain at the time whether it
would be the last, or that the "insane decision" of Reccafredus
preempted its completion. In prison Eulogius met a number of long-time captives
who filled him in on the details of Perfectus' passion a year and a half
before.(28) He
also encountered the merchant Joannes who was still serving his sentence for
blasphemy.(29) Thus
Eulogius was able to extend his martyrology back in time, providing some
precedents for the actions of Isaac and the ten other Christians who died in
the early summer of 851. He also seems to have composed at this time the
lengthy apologetic preface that would ultimately constitute book one. For when
reviewing the types of Christians that had been "sent to heaven by the
madness of the gentile mob," he included virgines in the company
of presbyteres, levitas, and confessores.(30) Since Flora
and Maria were the first females among the executed Christians, Eulogius could
not have known, prior to their arrest, that they would join the ranks of the
other martyrs.
It is difficult to
determine precisely when the Muslim authorities first began to single Eulogius
out as a dissident supporter of the martyrs. He had been arrested as one of a
large body of clerics whom the authorities seem to have regarded more as
convenient pressure points for controlling the Christian community as a whole
than as actual instigators of the confessors' actions. And he was released on
November 29, 851, along with the rest of the detained clerics. As a
precautionary measure, the authorities required Eulogius to give sureties that
he would remain in Córdoba, but there is no reason to suspect that he was the
only one among the prisoners obliged to do so.(31) The
"publication" of the Memoriale sanctorum after his release
was, as far as can be ascertained, his earliest public statement of support for
the martyrs. But we have no way of knowing how the work was received by his
Christian or Muslim opponents, if indeed anyone other than Alvarus even read
it.
Eulogius drew more
attention to himself in the months after his release when Reccafredus and the
emir began again to apply pressure on the Christian community.(32) Eulogius,
"seeing the deceitful strategy of the bishop spreading around him,"
bemoaned the lack of effective avenues of protest open to him. In an effort
to [58] relieve his friend's consternation, Alvarus arranged to have
a letter of the fourth-century bishop Epiphanius of Cyprus read in the presence
of the Cordoban bishop, Saul. In this letter Epiphanius praised two priests for
abstaining in protest from the celebration of the eucharist. Eulogius seized
upon the incident as a precedent for suspending himself from performing the
sacrament as a means of dramatizing his discontent with the leadership of the
Cordoban church. Had the bishop not threatened him with censure, he had,
according to Alvarus, every intention of going through with his threat.(33)
No matter how
short-lived, Eulogius' refusal to perform the mass was a symbolically pregnant
gesture. More than any other ritual, the eucharist symbolized the unity of the
Christian community as a whole and the community of clerics in particular. By
suspending himself from its performance, Eulogius sought to detach himself from
the policies of Reccafredus and those clerics who supported him. Eulogius
perhaps expected more support for his action than he actually received. Alvarus
was apparently the only one present who could, like Epiphanius, appreciate such
a ploy.
This episode was only the
first in a series of confrontations between Eulogius and the ecclesiastical
hierarchy in the course of the practically martyrless winter and spring of 852.(34) Alvarus
recorded that, upon the death of Archbishop Wistremirus of Toledo, the
metropolitans and suffragans elected Eulogius to be his successor.(35) But Eulogius
never assumed his prestigious new post for "divine providence placed
obstacles in his path."(36) Alvarus never
let on as to the exact nature of these obstacles. But given Eulogius' outspoken
criticism of the ecclesiastical policies of Reccafredus, his apparently open
support of the martyrs, and his legal confinement in Córdoba, it is not hard to
guess what prevented him from going to Toledo.
The conflict between
Eulogius and the authorities erupted once again in the summer of 852. The
executions of Aurelius, Sabigotho, Felix, Liliosa, and Georgius on July 27
broke a months-long moratorium on martyrdom and prompted cAbd ar-Rahmân II
to consider a new general incarceration. Eulogius, recounting this episode,
wrote:
Learning of this
deplorable plan we fled, we departed, we wandered, we hid, and having changed
our clothes we made our way in timid flight [59] through the
nocturnal silence. We were frightened by falling leaves, we frequently changed
our place of residence, we searched for safer places, and we constantly
trembled, fearing death by the sword.
This lack of fortitude
seems to have bothered Eulogius. But he consoled himself by considering the
providential aspects of martyrdom: "perhaps we fled martyrdom not because
we feared death, which comes when it will, but because we were unworthy for
martyrdom, which is given to some, not to all. Those who have been and are
being martyred were predestined from the very beginning."(37)
Though Eulogius was able
to ride out this particular storm in hiding, he became a target of reproach
during the episcopal council that the emir had convened that summer to consider
measures for squelching the new outbreak of martyrdoms.(38) As Eulogius
later reported, the exceptor reipublicae, who presided over the
council, "moved his tongue against me, heaping insults upon me."(39) Recalling the
same incident, Alvarus noted more generally that Eulogius was "attacked
and irritated by threats" because "he was seen to be the inspirer of
martyrdom in those days."(40)
Not long after the
council, cAbd ar-Rahmân II suffered a sudden illness which deprived him
first of his speech and then, on September 22, of his life. The fact that the
attack came when the bodies of Rogelius and Servus Dei were being committed to
the flames attested, in Eulogius' opinion, to the "wondrous power of the
savior." But his euphoria over what must have seemed to him an all too
rare exercise of divine justice was cut short by the accession of the emir's
son, who, as we saw in the first chapter, proved to be much more of a persecutor
Christianorum than his father.
Eulogius regarded the
subsequent nine-month hiatus in the martyrdoms as a sign that the new emir's
hardline approach had worked. In mid-spring of 853 Eulogius decided to bring
the Memoriale sanctorum up to date by recording the passions of
Aurelius, Sabigotho, and the nine others who had died in the course of the
previous summer. He then formally closed the work for the first time with a
long invocation to Christ.(41)
Eulogius could not have
predicted that within two months he would have five more martyrs to add:
Fandila on June 13, Anastasius, Felix, and Digna a day later, and Benildus on
the fifteenth. Apologizing to his readers for violating not only the [60] rhetorical
rules against prolixity, but those which frowned on choppy narrative, the
priest reopened his hagiographical record.(42) There is no
way of knowing exactly when Eulogius composed the third book of the Memoriale
sanctorum. But the lack of any formal ending suggests that this time he
decided to leave the register open in the event of more unforeseen executions.
Indeed after the five Christians killed in June 853, the martyrdoms did become
increasingly sporadic, but Eulogius would never see them subside altogether.
At some point in or after
the year 857 the priest composed the Liber apologeticus martyrum. Like
the Memoriale sanctorum, it combined a general defense of the
martyrs' claim to sanctity with specific hagiographical narratives, in this
case involving the passions of Rudericus and Salomon who died on March 13, 857.
In the course of this work Eulogius made passing reference to a new persecution
launched by Muhammad I, made possible by an uncharacteristic lull in the
provincial rebellions that plagued the emirate. But the priest did not
elaborate.(43)
We also know from an
independent source that in the spring of 858 Eulogius met Usuard and Odilard,
two monks from Paris in search of relics. They had come to Spain hoping to
secure the remains of St. Vincent, but were disappointed when the Christians of
Zaragoza proved reluctant to hand over such a precious spiritual treasure.
Hearing reports of an enormi fidelium interfectione in process in
Córdoba, the two monks decided to make their way south rather than return to
France empty-handed. Once in Córdoba, they made contact with Samson, the former
translator, who had recently assumed the abbacy of the monastery at Pinna
Mellaria. There, as Samson informed them, the bodies of Aurelius and Georgius,
as well as the head of Sabigotho, had been deposited almost six years before. The
two relic hunters were impressed with what they read in the passio and
heard from the mouth of Eulogius himself, whose personal knowledge of Aurelius
made him an ideal source for additional information about the martyr. Though
the monks were very reluctant to part with the relics, Samson and the Cordoban
bishop Saul saw to it that the Parisians' detour was not in vain.(44)
As far as we know
the Liber apologeticus martyrum was the last of Eulogius' literary
efforts.(45) In
late winter, 859, the authorities arrested Eulogius for harboring and
encouraging the apostasy of [61] the fugitive Leocritia. When
questioned as to his motives, Eulogius responded:
The order of preaching is
enjoined upon us and it befits our faith that we extend its light to those who
seek it from us, that we deny no one who hastens along those paths of life,
which are holy. This befits priests, this the true religion demands, this
Christ our Lord has taught us: that anyone who is thirsty and wants to drink
from the rivers of faith may find a draught double that which he sought. And
since this virgin sought from us a rule of the holy faith, it was necessary that
we freely give her our attention, that her inclination might be fully ignited.
Nor is it right to reject such petitioners, especially for those selected for
the service of Christ. Therefore it was fitting that I, inasmuch as I was able,
instruct, teach and present the faith of Christ as the way to the celestial
kingdom. I would most readily do the same for you if you were inclined to seek
the same from me.(46)
The judge reacted to
Eulogius' invitation by ordering that he be whipped. But the priest, who had
once fled to avoid arrest, was unsatisfied with such a lenient sentence. Now,
almost six years later, he told the judge to sharpen his sword and proceeded to
point out the errors of Islam. Because Eulogius was such an important member of
the Christian community, the judge had him taken to the emir's palace for
sentencing by the "royal counselors." There a sympathetic courtier
encouraged him to cooperate and avert his own execution:
If stupid and idiotic
individuals have been carried away to such lamentable ruin, what is it that
compels you, who are outstanding in wisdom and illustrious in manner of life,
to commit yourself to this deadly ruin, suppressing the natural love of life?
Hear me, I beseech you, I beg you, lest you fall headlong to destruction. Say
something in this the hour of your need, so that afterward you may be able to
practice your faith. We promise that we will not bother you again anywhere.(47)
But Eulogius chose instead to maintain his course and continued extolling the virtues of Christianity. On March 11, 859, Eulogius was decapitated.
Notes for Chapter Four
1. Vita
Eulogii 1.2 (PL 115:707 CSM 1:331).
2.
Eulogius' letter to bishop Wiliesindus mentions two sisters, Niola and Anulo,
and three brothers, Alvarus, Isidorus, and Joseph. Epistula 3.1, 5, 8
(PL 115: 845, 847, 848; CSM 2:497, 499, 500).
3. Liber
apologeticus martyrum 19 (PL 115:862; CSM 2:487).
4. Vita
Eulogii 4.12 (PL 115:714; CSM 1:337). There is no reason why either
Eulogius or Alvarus would have attempted to hide the former's mixed heritage if
such had indeed been the case. Alvarus admitted in a letter that his own
ancestry was Jewish, and neither he nor Eulogius had anything but praise for
the martyrs who were of mixed blood. Colbert, p. 349, mistakenly assumes that
if Eulogius were related to Christophorus, both would have had to have Arab
blood, and therefore treats the Christophorus that Alvarus mentioned as a
completely different one than Eulogius' contribulis. Morales, in the
notes to his edition of Eulogius' works (PL 115:726, n. 2), treated the two as
one and the same without, however, drawing any conclusions about Eulogius'
ancestry.
5.
Toledo 4.24 (633) established the procedure by which young men were to be
prepared for ecclesiastical service: ". . . If among the clerics there are
any adolescent or pubescent boys, let them all dwell in one room of the atrium,
so that they might pass through these treacherous years not in lust but in
ecclesiastical discipline under an approved elder whom they shall have as both
a master of doctrine and a living example." Vives, p. 201. We have
already, in chapter 2, encountered many examples of Christians coming from all
over southern Spain to study under the masters of the various basilicae in
Córdoba. Some came of their own accord and some were dedicated by their
parents. Apparently the latter had the option of returning to lay life when
they reached the age of discretion. Alvarus, who, as we shall see below, was
Eulogius' schoolmate, did not follow his friend into the priesthood. Similarly,
both Emila and Hieremias studied together at the basilica of St. Cyprian, but
only the former died an ecclesiastic.
6.
Alvarus, Epistula 8 (CSM 1:203-10). The calendar of 961 lists
Speraindeo under May 7, and uses the word "interfectio" to describe
his death. Dozy, Calendrier. But it is extremely unlikely that he
would have died a martyr without some indication in the writings of Eulogius
and Alvarus. That he did not survive to see the martyrdoms of the 850s is
evident from Alvarus' reference to his master as "bone recordationis
memorie." Vita Eulogii 1.2 (PL 115:708; CSM 1:331).
7. Memoriale
sanctorum 1.7 (PL 115:745; CSM 2:375-6). Deuteronomy 25.5, Matthew 27.29,
and Luke 20.34-5.
8. Vita
Eulogii 1.2 (PL 115:708; CSM 1:331).
9.
"Zalla, Allah, Halla, Anabi. V. A. Zallen. Quod Latine dicitur, Psallat
Deus super prophetam, et salvet eum." Memoriale sanctorum 2.1.3
(PL 115:767; CSM 2:399).
10.
Isidore defined juventus as between the ages of 28 and 50. Etymologies 11.2.
Toledo 4.20 (633) set the minimum age for deacons at 25, and for priests at
thirty. Vives, p. 200.
11. Vita
Eulogii 1.3 (PL 115:708; CSM 1:332). Eulogius described the martyrs
Sanctius and Christophorus individually as "auditor noster,"
suggesting that they may have been students of his at one time.
12. Vita
Eulogii 1.3 (PL 115:709; CSM 1:332).
13. Epistula 3
(PL 115:845; CSM 2:497).
14. Annales
Bertiniani, ed. G. Waltz, MGH, Scriptores rerum germanicorum in usum
scholarum . . . (Hanover, 1883), pp. 36, 38. Fragmentum chronici
Fontanellensis, ed. George H. Pertz, MGH, Scriptores 2 (Hanover, 1829),
pp. 302-3.
15. Epistula 3.1
(PL 115:845; CSM 2:498). Independent confirmation of this rebellion is not
available.
16.
Léonce Auzias, L'Aquitaine carolingienne (778-987), Bibliothèque Méridionale,
series 2, vol. 28
(Toulouse, 1937), p. 264. Elie Lambert, "Le voyage de Saint Euloge dans
les Pyrénées en 848," Estudios dedicados a Menéndez Pidal, vol.
4 (Madrid, 1953), pp. 557-67.
18. Annales
Bertiniani, pp. 36, 38. Fragmentum chronici Fontanellensis, pp.
302, 303.
19.
Colbert's observation that Eulogius seems to have relied on second hand
accounts of Perfectus' martyrdom and therefore must have been away from Córdoba
at the time, would have been stronger had not Eulogius also credited others for
his information about Pomposa. Memoriale sanctorum 3.11.3 (PL
115:812; CSM 2:453).
20. Epistula 3.10
(PL 115:849; CSM 2:501).
22. Epistula 3.9
(PL 115:848: CSM 2:500).
23. Epistula 3.12
(PL 115:850; CSM 2:502). Here, as elsewhere, it is difficult to determine
whether or not Eulogius' use of the first person plural is rhetorical.
24. Epistula 3.13
(PL 115:852; CSM 2:503).
25. Vita
Eulogii 2.4 (PL 115:709; CSM 1:332-3).
28. Memoriale
sanctorum 2.1.5 (PL 115:769; CSM 2:401).
29. Memoriale
sanctorum 1.9 (PL 115:747; CSM 2:377).
30. Memoriale
sanctorum 1.17 (PL 115:751; CSM 2:381). Colbert, p. 218, regards this as a
later insertion. But, as we shall see in the next chapter, there is no reason
to suppose that Eulogius composed the apologetic portion of the work before
recording the passions of the first group of eleven spontaneous martyrs.
31. Vita
Eulogii 2.7 (PL 115:711; CSM 1:334).
32. Vita
Eulogii 2.6 (PL 115:710; CSM 1:333-4).
33. Vita
Eulogii 2.7 (PL 115:710-11; CSM 1:334).
34.
We hear no more about Reccafredus after Eulogius' eucharistic threat. Given the
way Alvarus referred to the "times of Reccafredus," he may well have
died between the spring of 852 and the time Alvarus wrote the Vita
Eulogii.
35.
Though the date of Wistremirus' death has provoked considerable debate in the
past, the fact that Eulogius, in his letter of November 851 to Bishop
Wiliesindus of Pamplona, referred to Wistremirus as "adhuc vigentem"
at the time of Eulogius' trip a year before, suggests that he died sometime in
851 prior to Eulogius' letter. Based on the chronology of the Vita
Eulogii, the election most likely took place in early 852, not long after
Eulogius' release from prison. Epistula 3.7 (PL 115:848; CSM 2:500).
See Colbert, pp. 322-8, for a summary of the controversy.
36. Vita
Eulogii 3.19 (PL 115:713; CSM 1:336). Possibly the political tensions that
existed between Toledo and Córdoba at the time led to Eulogius' election in
absentia as a form of protest. Dozy 1:354.
37. Memoriale
sanctorum 2.14 (PL 115:795; CSM 2:433-4).
38.
There has been little agreement among historians as to the precise date of this
council. Eulogius tells us that the exceptor fell from the emir's
grace post bisseno mense after the council met and post aliquos
menses after the accession of Muhammad I. Given that the council was
intended to find a way of preventing future martyrdoms, it would make the most
sense for it to have been convened immediately after a significant number of
executions. The middle to late summer of 852, after the group of martyrs that
died on July 27, fits best. It also makes the most sense in terms of the order
of events that Eulogius described, placing, as he did, the council on the eve
of cAbd ar-Rahmân II's death. The exceptor's disgrace, then,
would have occurred twelve months later, or roughly August, 853. It does not
make as much sense to interpret post bisseno mense as "after the
twelfth month," or December, as Colbert would have it (p. 249). Memoriale
sanctorum 3.2 (PL 115:801; CSM 2:440).
39. Memoriale
sanctorum 2.15.2 (PL 115:796; CSM 2:434-5).
40. Vita
Eulogii 2.5 (PL 115:710; CSM 1:333), 3.8 (PL 115:711; CSM 1:335).
41.
Eulogius tells us that he composed the passio of Aurelius, Sabigotho,
et al., at the request of their youngest child nine months after the execution,
that is, about May of 853. Memoriale sanctorum 2.10.17 (PL 115:784;
CSM 2:423). We can assume that the others that followed in the summer of 852
were recorded at about the same time. At some point after Eulogius first
terminated his martyrology with the account of Theodemirus' death and before
the inclusion of the victims of the summer of 852, that is between November 851
and May 853, he incorporated the passio of Nunilo and Alodia, two
Christians executed for apostasy in Bosca, the news of which he had received
secondhand from Venerius, the bishop of Alcalá. He began the episode with an
apology for his lack of prescience in ending his martyrology prematurely. Memoriale
sanctorum 2.7 (PL 115:775 CSM 2:406). The passio of Flora and Maria
was also composed sometime in this interim period. But its structure indicates
that it was originally designed as a separate work, perhaps intended to
accompany the Documentum martyriale, and was only later added to the
rest of the passiones. Memoriale sanctorum 2.8 (PL 115:835-42; CSM
2:408-15).
42. Memoriale
sanctorum 3, pref. (PL 115:799; CSM 2:438-9).
43. Liber
apologeticus martyrum 22 (PL 115:863; CSM 2:488-9).
44.
Aimoin, De translatione I (PL 115:941-8). Nathalia is, for some
unknown reason, the name that Sabigotho assumed in the passio that
accompanied the remains to Paris. The meeting between the monks and Eulogius is
mentioned specifically in Aimoin 1.8 (PL 115:944-5).
45.
Raphael Jiménez Pedrajas has made a case for regarding Eulogius as the author
of the revised passio that Usuard and Odilard brought north with
them, perhaps making this his last work. "San Eulogio de Córdoba, autor de
la pasión francesa de los mártires mozárabes cordobeses Jorge, Aurelio y
Natalia," Anthologica Annua 17 (1970).
46. Vita
Eulogii 5.15 (PL 115:716; CSM 1:339).
47. Vita
Eulogii 15 (PL 115:717; CSM 1:340).
SOURCE : https://libro.uca.edu/martyrs/cm4.htm
Reliquaire
de Saint Eulogius et de Sainte Leocritia de Cordoba,
Camara
Santa, Oviedo Cathedral
March 11
St. Eulogius of Cordova,
Priest and Martyr
From his authentic life
by Alvarus, his intimate friend, and from his works, Bibl. Patr. t. 9. See Acta
Sanct. t. 7. Fleury, b. 48. p. 57.
A.D. 859.
ST. EULOGIUS was
of a senatorian family of Cordova, at that time the capital of the Moors or
Saracens in Spain. Those infidels had till then tolerated the Christian
religion among the Goths, exacting only a certain tribute every new moon. Our
saint was educated among the clergy of the church of St. Zoilus, a martyr, who
suffered at Cordova, with nineteen others, under Dioclesian, and is honoured on
the 27th of June. Here he distinguished himself by his virtue and learning; and
being made priest, was placed at the head of the chief ecclesiastical school in
Spain, which then flourished at Cordova. He joined assiduous watching, fasting
and prayer, to his studies: and his humility, mildness, and charity gained him
the affection and respect of every one. He often visited the monasteries for
his further instruction in virtue, and prescribed rules of piety for the use of
many fervent souls that desired to serve God. Some of the Christians were so
indiscreet as openly to inveigh against Mahomet, and expose the religion
established by him. This occasioned a bloody persecution at Cordova, in the
29th year of Abderrama III. the eight hundred and fiftieth year of Christ.
Reccafred, an apostate bishop, declared against the martyrs: and, at his
solicitation, the bishop of Cordova and some others were imprisoned, and many
priests, among whom was St. Eulogius, as one who encouraged the martyrs by his
instructions. It was then that he wrote his Exhortation to Martyrdom, 1 addressed
to the virgins Flora and Mary, who were beheaded the 24th of November, in 851.
These virgins promised to pray as soon as they should be with God, that their
fellow-prisoners might be restored to their liberty. Accordingly St. Eulogius
and the rest were enlarged six days after their death. In the year 852, several
suffered the like martyrdom, namely, Gumisund and Servus-Dei: Aurelius and
Felix with their wives: Christopher and Levigild: Rogel and Servio-Deo. A
council at Cordova, in 852, forbade any one to offer himself to martyrdom.
Mahomet succeeded his father upon his sudden death by an appoplectic fit; but
continued the persecution, and put to death, in 853, Fandila, a monk,
Anastasius, Felix, and three nuns, Digna, Columba, and Pomposa. Saint Eulogius
encouraged all these martyrs to their triumphs, and was the support of that
distressed flock. His writings still breathe an inflamed zeal and spirit of
martyrdom. The chief are his history of these martyrs, called the Memorial of
the Saints, in three books; and his Apology for them against calumniators,
showing them to be true martyrs, though without miracles. 2 His
brother was deprived of his place, one of the first dignities of the kingdom.
St. Eulogius himself was obliged by the persecutors to live always, after his
releasement, with the treacherous bishop Reccafred, that wolf in sheep’s
clothing. Wherefore he refrained from saying mass, that he might not
communicate with that domestic enemy.
The archbishop of Toledo
dying in 858, St. Eulogius was canonically elected to succeed him; but there
was some obstacle that hindered him from being consecrated; though he did not
outlive his election two months. A virgin, by name Leocritia, of a noble family
among the Moors, had been instructed from her infancy in the Christian religion
by one of her relations, and privately baptized. Her father and mother
perceiving this, used her very ill, and scourged her day and night to compel
her to renounce the faith. Having made her condition known to St. Eulogius and
his sister Anulona, intimating that she desired to go where she might freely
exercise her religion, they secretly procured her the means of getting away
from her parents, and concealed her for some time among faithful friends. But
the matter was at length discovered, and they were all brought before the cadi.
Eulogius offered to show the judge the true road to heaven, and to demonstrate
Mahomet to be an impostor. The cadi threatened to have him scourged to death.
The martyr told him his torments would be to no purpose; for he would never
change his religion.
Whereupon the cadi gave
orders that he should be carried to the palace, and presented before the king’s
council. One of the lords of the council took the saint aside, and said to him:
“Though the ignorant unhappily run headlong to death, a man of your learning
and virtue ought not to imitate their folly. Be ruled by me, I entreat you: say
but one word, since necessity requires it: you may afterwards resume your own
religion, and we will promise that no inquiry shall be made after you.”
Eulogius replied, smiling: “Ah! if you could but conceive the reward which
waits for those who persevere in the faith to the end, you would renounce your
temporal dignity in exchange for it.” He then began boldly to propose the
truths of the gospel to them. But to prevent their hearing him, the council
condemned him immediately to lose his head. As they were leading him to
execution, one of the eunuchs of the palace gave him a blow on the face for
having spoken against Mahomet: he turned the other cheek, and patiently
received a second. He received the stroke of death out of the city-gates, with
great cheerfulness, on the 11th of March, 859. St. Leocritia was beheaded four
days after him, and her body thrown into the river Bœtis, or Guadalquivir, but
taken out by the Christians. The Church honours both of them on the days of
their martyrdom.
If we consider the
conduct of Christ towards his Church, which he planted at the price of his
precious blood, and treats as his most beloved spouse, we shall admire a
wonderful secret in the adorable councils of his tender providence. This
Church, so dear to him, and so precious in his eyes, he formed and spread under
a general most severe and dreadful persecution. He has exposed it in every age
to frequent and violent storms, and seems to delight in always holding at least
some part or other of it in the fiery crucible. But the days of its severest
trials were those of its most glorious triumphs. Then it shone above all other
periods of time with the brightest examples of sanctity, and exhibited both to
heaven and to men on earth the most glorious spectacles and triumphs. Then were
formed in its bosom innumerable most illustrious heroes of all perfect virtue,
who eminently inherited, and propagated in the hearts of many others, the true
spirit of our crucified Redeemer. The same conduct God in his tender mercy
holds with regard to those chosen souls which he destines to raise, by special
graces, highest in his favour. When the councils of divine providence shall be
manifested to them in the next life, then they shall clearly see that their
trials were the most happy moments, and the most precious graces of their whole
lives. In sickness, humiliations, and other crosses, the poison of self-love
was expelled from their hearts, their affections weaned from the world,
opportunities were afforded them of practising the most heroic virtues, by the
fervent exercise of which their souls were formed in the school of Christ, and
his perfect spirit of humility, meekness, disengagement, and purity of the
affections, ardent charity, and all other virtues, in which true Christian
heroism consists. The forming of the heart of one saint is a great and sublime
work, the masterpiece of divine grace, the end and the price of the death of
the Son of God. It can only be finished by the cross on which we were
engendered in Christ, and the mystery of our predestination is accomplished.
Note 1. Documentum
Martyrii, t. 9. Bibl. Patr. p. 699. [back]
Note 2. Some
objected to these martyrs, that they were not honoured with frequent miracles
as those had been who suffered in the primitive ages. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume III: March. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : https://www.bartleby.com/210/3/111.html
.jpg)
The
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption (Spanish: Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la
Asunción, ou Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba (Spanish: Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba)
Sant' Eulogio di Cordoba Sacerdote
e martire
† Cordoba, Spagna, 11
marzo 859
Eulogio è il più
importante dei «Martiri di Cordoba» assieme a Rodrigo e Salomone. Strappata ai
Visigoti dagli Arabi nel 771, Cordoba raggiunse il suo apogeo culturale nel X
secolo, prima di essere "riconquistata" nel 1236 da Ferdinando III di
Castiglia. I musulmani non si mostrarono sempre feroci persecutori dei
cristiani, cui talvolta si limitavano a imporre di non testimoniare la loro
fede e di versare un cospicuo tributo periodico: se ciò provocava lo spirito
d'indipendenza dei cristiani, i più sensibili, non potevano tollerare una
specie di ibernazione religiosa. Di qui sporadiche reazioni alla dominazione,
che venivano soffocate con sporadiche persecuzioni. Di una di queste reazioni
furono protagonisti Rodrigo, Salomone ed Eulogio. Questo era prete; non potendo
accettare la passività dei cristiani, parlò apertamente contro il Corano.
Imprigionato una prima volta, venne rilasciato, ma, nominato vescovo di Toledo,
non poté essere ordinato, perché venne decapitato l'11 marzo 859. (Avvenire)
Emblema: Palma
Martirologio
Romano: A Córdova nell’Andalusia in Spagna, sant’Eulogio, sacerdote e
martire, decapitato con la spada per avere proclamato apertamente la fede in
Cristo.
Sant’Eulogio non è che il
più importante fra la folta schiera dei “Martiri di Cordoba”. Numerosissimi
cristiani, infatti, testimoniarono la loro fede in Cristo con il supremo
sacrificio dell’effusione del loro sangue presso Cordoba, importante città
spagnola dell’Andalusia. Strappata ai Visigoti dagli Arabi nel 771, la città
raggiunse il suo apogeo culturale nel X secolo, prima di essere riconquistata
nel 1236 dal celebre sovrano San Ferdinando III di Castiglia.
Bisogna constatare, ad
onor del vero, che i musulmani non si mostrarono sempre feroci persecutori dei
cristiani, ai quali solitamente si limitavano ad imporre di non testimoniare
pubblicamente la loro fede cristiana e soprattutto di versare periodicamente un
cospicuo tributo: se ciò da un punto di vista puramente politico portava a
provocare uno spirito d’indipendenza e di autonomia da parte della popolazione
indigena, quest’ultima in quanto cristiana non poteva certo tollerare una sorta
di ibernazione religiosa. Nacquero così sporadiche reazioni alla dominazione
dei mori, che venivano facilmente soffocate con altrettanto sporadiche
persecuzioni.
Fu proprio in tale
contesto che si collocò il martirio di Eulogio, sacerdote, vescovo eletto di
Toledo. Non potendo a qualunque costo accettare o tollerare la passività dei
cristiani, egli scrisse e predicò apertamente contro il Corano. Imprigionato
una prima volta, venne rilasciato dopo che egli aveva confortato e rianomato i
suoi compagni di prigionia con un’efficace “Esortazione ai martiri”. Nominato
vescovo di Toledo, non poté neppure essere consacrato e prendere possesso della
sua sede: l’11 marzo 859 venne infatti decapitato, in esaudimento del suo
grande desiderio.
Autore: Fabio
Arduino
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/45050
Voir aussi : http://stmaterne.blogspot.com/2008/03/saint-euloge-de-cordoue-sceau-des.html
