(A.D. 859.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--An account of his life and martyrdom
by his friend Alvar.]
Eulogius belonged to one of the principal families of Cordova, then
in the hands of the Moors, who had constituted it their capital.
These Mohammedans, who had ruined the Gothic kingdom in Spain, had
not succeeded in trampling out Christianity. They did, indeed, suffer
Christians to exercise their religion, and for this indulgence they
obliged them to pay a heavy tax, but Christians were strictly
forbidden, on pain of death, to make converts. Eulogius had a fellow
scholar at Chute-Clar, a monastery on the north-west of Cordova, named
Alvar, to whom he was warmly attached, and who became afterwards his
biographer. On reaching his maturity, Eulogius taught letters in
Cordova, and was ordained priest. In the year 850, the Moors began to
persecute the Christians, and the metropolitan bishop of Andalusia,
Reccafred, instead of defending his flock against the wolves, basely
taking the part of the king, Abderahman, arrested all the clergy of
Cordova, together with their bishop, and threw them into prison. S.
Eulogius, from his dungeon, wrote an exhortation to two virgins, named
Flora and Mary, exhorting them to stand fast in the faith. "They
threaten to sell you as slaves, and dishonour you, my daughters, but
know that whatever infamy they may heap upon you, they cannot defile
the virginal purity of your souls." But these holy maidens were spared
this terrible humiliation, being executed with the sword.[41] S.
Eulogius and the other prisoners heard with joy of their triumph, and
celebrated a mass of thanksgiving to God in their dungeon.
[41] It is not known what the occasion of the persecution was, and why
the metropolitan sided against the bishop of Cordova and his clergy,
but there is every probability that it was because they had attempted
the conversion of some of the Moors; and Reccafred, as a moderate man,
preferred quiet and toleration to missionary efforts and persecution.
Six days after, S. Eulogius and the other priests were released; and he
at once composed a metrical account of the passion of the virgins Flora
and Mary.
Under Mohammed, the successor of Abderahman, the persecution became
still more cruel, and S. Eulogius was constantly employed in
encouraging timorous Christians, who, to escape death, or the irksome
disabilities and petty tyranny to which they were subjected, were
prepared to desert Christ.
The number of martyrs at this time was very great, and Eulogius
collected all the acts of their passion into a history, in three
books, entitled "The Memorial," which still exists. He then composed
an "Apology" against those who disputed their title, as martyrs,
because, firstly, they wrought no miracles like the ancient martyrs;
secondly, they had offered themselves to death; thirdly, they had
died by a stroke of the sword instead of through lingering torture;
fourthly, they had not been killed by idolators, but by Mohammedans,
who worshipped the One true God.
After the death of the archbishop of Toledo, the clergy and people of
that city cast their eyes on Eulogius, as his successor. But God was
about to crown him with martyrdom. There was in Cordova a girl named
Leocritia, who had been converted from Mohammedanism to Christianity.
For a Moslem to profess the religion of Christ was death. To save
her, Eulogius hid her in the house of his sister, Annulona, and when
the officers of justice were in pursuit of her, he conveyed her from
one Christian house to another. But this could not last long. The
place of her concealment was discovered, and Leocritia was taken, and
Eulogius, for having secreted her, was also confined. He was ordered
to execution, and was decapitated on Saturday, March 11th, 859, and
Leocritia suffered the following Wednesday, and was buried in the
church of S. Genes, at Cordova. Because March 11th usually falls in
Lent, the Church of Cordova transfers the feast of S. Eulogius to June
1st, the day of the first translation of his body, and observes it with
an Octave. The body was afterwards carried to Oviedo, together with
that of S. Leocritia, on Jan. 19th, 883, and a third translation took
place to Camarasanta, in 1300. For Flora and Mary, see November 24.