St. Gumesindus Feastday: January 13
Spanish martyr with Servus Dei. Gumesindus was a priest, and Servus Dei a monk. They suffered under Abd al Rahman at Cordoba, Spain. 852 A.D.
St. Martin Manuel Feastday: January 31
Portuguese martyr. He was an archpriest of Siure. Born in Auranca, near Coimbra, he answered the desire for a priestly vocation and served the Church until captured by the Saracens. He died in Cordoba, Spain, as a result of cruel treatment by his captors.
St. Eulogius of Cordoba Feastday: March 11
Martyred priest of Cordoba, Spain, slain by the Moors. Arrested in 850 , Eulogius, a noted scholar of Scripture, wrote Exhortation to Martyrdom for two young virgin martyrs, Flora and Mary, who were beheaded. Released, Eulogius was named archbishop of Cordoba or Toledo. Before being consecrated, he aided Leocritia, a young Moorish woman who had converted to Christianity. They were caught and beheaded. Eulogius also wrote: The Memorial of the Saints and an Apologia. 859 A.D
St. Leocrita Feastday: March 15
Virgin martyr of Spain, also listed as Lucretia. She lived in Cordoba, Spain, with her Muslim Moorish parents until her conversion. St. Eulogius sheltered her. They were both scourged and beheaded. 859 A.D.
St. Elias Feastday: April 17
Spanish martyr with Paul and Isidore. He was a priest of Cordoba, Spain, quite elderly. Isidore and Paul were catechists. They were put to death by the Moors of the city. St. Eulogius gave a vivid account of their martyrdom. 856 A.D.
St. Perfectus Feastday: April 18
Spanish martyr. He was a priest who served at Cordoba, Spain, and was slain by the Moors on Easter Sunday. 851 A.D.
St. Sanctinus Feastday: June 5
Also known as Sancho, a martyr. He was born in Albi, France, but was captured as a child by the Moors and sold into slavery at Cordoba, Spain. Raised and educated at the court of the emir of Cordoba, he served in the palace guard until tortured and executed for professing the Christian faith and refusing to embrace Islam. 851 A.D.
St. Peter Feastday: June 7
Spanish martyr, with Wallabonsus, Sabinian, Wistremundus, Habentius, and Jeremias. They were put to death in Cordoba at the order of Emir Abd al-Rahman II for preaching against Muhammad. Though most were beheaded, Jeremias was scourged to death. 851 A.D.
St. Anastasius XVII Feastday: June 14
Deacon and martyr. A monk in the Benedictine monastery in Tabanos, near Cordoba, Spain, Anastasius was caught up in the persecutions conducted by the Muslim Moors. With St. Felix and St. Digna, Anastasius was beheaded for the faith. 853 A.D.
St. Benildis Feastday: June 15
Spanish woman martyr, converted by the heroic death of St. Athanasius. A priest, St. Athanasius, died in the city of Córdoba at the hands of the Moors, the Islamic rulers of that era. Benildis converted during the martyrdom of St. Athanasius and she died at the stake the following day. 853 A.D.
St. Pelagius Feastday: June 26
Martyr in Cordoba, Spain. Also called Pelayo, he was a young boy of Asturias who was left by his uncle as a hostage to the Moors of Cordoba. As he remained un-ransomed for three years, the Cordoban ruler Emir Abd al-Rahman III offered to free him if he would but renounce his Christianity and become a Muslim. He refused, and the emir ordered him tortured. Pelagius died after six hours of agony. Rhoswitha of Gandersheim, a Benedictine poetess, composed a poem in his honor. 912-925 A.D.
St. Abundius Feastday: July 11
A priest and martyr of Spain who faced Islamic persecution. Abundius, who was a pastor in Ananelos, was arrested in Córdoba, Spain, when he refused to abandon his Christian faith. Brought before the Caliph, the Muslim ruler of the city, he preached about Christianity and the Church. the Caliph condemned him and beheaded him. 854 A.D.
St. Aurea Feastday: July 19
Martyr of Spain. Aurea was born in Cordoba, Spain. She was widowed there and became a Christian. Entering a convent at Cuteclara, she was denounced by her family to the Moorish authorities. Aurea was beheaded. 856 A.D.
St. Paul of St. Zoilus Feastday: July 20
Spanish martyr. Paul was a deacon of Cordoba, Spain, and a member of the community of St. Zoilus in that city. He devoted much of his effort to bringing aid to those Christians imprisoned by Muslim officials. Seized by members of the ruling Islamic government, he was beheaded. 851 A.D.
St. Theodemir Feastday: July 25
Monk and martyr of Spain. He was martyred at Cordoba under Emir Abd al-Rahman II (r. 822-852), a Muslim, because he would not recant his Christian faith. 851 A.D.
Sts. Leovigild and Christopher Feastday: August 20
Martyrs of Cordoba, Spain, put to death under the ruler of Cordoba, Abd al-Rahman II. Leovigild was a priest and Christopher was a monk. 852 A.D.
St. Sandila Feastday: September 3
A Spanish martyr. He was put to death at Cordoba by the Islamic Moors for being a conspicuous Christian. 855 A.D.
Sts. Emilas & Jeremiah Feastday: September 15
Spanish martyrs of Cordoba, Spain, by Caliph Abd-al-Rahman II . Emilas was a deacon. The young men were beheaded. 852 A.D.
St. Rogellus Feastday: September 16
Martyr with his disciple, Servus Dei. He was a monk in Spain who was put to death at Cordoba by the Moors for publicly attacking the Muslim faith. His young disciple suffered with him. 852 A.D.
St. Columba Feastday: September 17
A Spanish virgin and martyr of Cordoba. She served as a nun at Tabanos until the Moorish persecution started in 852. Going to Cordoba, she refused to deny the faith and was beheaded. 853 A.D.
St. Pomposa Feastday: September 19
Martyred nun. She was a nun in a convent near Cordoba who was beheaded by the Moorish rulers of the city. Pomposa refused to deny the faith and was slain by the Muslims. 835 A.D.
Sts. Adolphus and John Feastday: September 27
Martyrs of Spain, brothers. Both men were residents of Seville, the sons of an Islamic father and a Christian mother. Caught in the persecutions conducted by the Caliph of Córdoba, Abdal-Rahman II, Adolphus and John were martyred in Córdoba. 850 A.D.
St. Laura Feastday: October 19
St. Laura died in 864 A.D. A martyr. Born in Cordova, Spain, she became a nun at Cuteclara after she was widowed, and was scalded to death by her Moorish captors.
St. Alodia Feastday: October 22
Martyr and confessor, the daughter of a Muslim father and a Christian mother in Huesca, Spain. Alodia and her sister, Nunilo, were caught up in the persecutions conducted by Abdal-Rabman II, the ruler of Cordoba. Alodia and Nunilo dedicated themselves to Christ, despite their father's disapproval, and were arrested. When they refused to deny Christ, they were placed in a brothel and later beheaded. 851 A.D.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
St. Roderic Feastday: March 13
Roderic, also known as Ruderic, was a priest at Cabra, Spain during the persecution of Christians by the Moors. He was beaten into unconsciousness by his two brothers, one a Mohammedan and the other a fallen-away Catholic, when he tried to stop an argument between them. The Mohammedan brother then paraded him through the streets proclaiming that he wished to become a Mohammedan. He escaped but was denounced to the authorities by the same brother as an apostate from Mohammedanism and imprisoned through he denied he had ever given up his Christianity. While in prison, he met a man named Solomon, also charged with apostasy, and after a long imprisonment, they were both beheaded
Bl. Olive Feastday: June 10
According to a pious legend, Olive was a beautiful girl of thirteen, of a noble Palermo, Italy family who was carried off to Tunis by raiding Moslems. They allowed her to live in a nearby cave, but when they found that her miracles and cures had converted many Mohammedans, she was imprisoned, tortured, and after converting her executioners trying to burn her to death, was beheaded
St. Raymond Nonnatus Feastday: August 31
Raymond was born at Portella, Catalonia, Spain. He was delivered by caesarean operation when his mother died in childbirth. Hence his name non natus (not born). He joined the Mercedarians under St. Peter Nolasco at Barcelona. He succeeded Peter as chief ransomer and went to Algeria to ransom slaves. He remained as hostage for several slaves when his money ran out and was sentenced to be impaled when the governor learned that he had converted several Mohammedans. He escaped the death sentence because of the ransom he would bring, but was forced to run the gauntlet. He was then tortured for continuing his evangelizing activities but was ransomed eight months later by Peter Nolasco. On his return to Barcelona in 1239, he was appointed Cardinal by Pope Gregory IX, but died at Cardona a short distance from Barcelona the next year while on the way to Rome. He was canonized in 1657. He is the patron saint of expectant mothers and midwives because of the nature of his own birth. Although his mother died in labor, Raymond miraculously survived the ordeal. His feast day is August 31.
St. Placid Feastday: October 5
Disciple (6th century) of St. Benedict at Subiaco and Monte Cassino. He is known mainly through the Dialogues of Pope St. Gregory I the Great and is closely associated with St. Maurus of whom little is known outside of legend and the Dialogues . The son of a patrician named Tertulus, the very young Placid was placed into the care of St. Benedict at Subiaco, supposedly being saved from drowning through the aid of the renowned saint. Placid subsequently accompanied Benedict to Monte Cassino, which was evidently given to Benedict by the obviously grateful Tertulus. The name Placid was thereafter attached to assorted legends, including one assigning him credit for founding St. John the Baptist Monastery at Messina, in Sicily. While there, he was said to have been martyred by Saracen raiders with two brothers, a sister, and thirty companions. Among his disciples are counted Eutychius, Faustus, Donatus, and Firmatus.
