Every June 14 the holy Martyrs of Córdoba are remembered. They were a group of Mozarabic Christians who were executed for not abdicating their Christian faith. They lived in the times of the Muslim kings of the Emirate of Córdoba, Abderramán II (822-852) and Mohamed I (852-886).
Context
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An Emirate was a territory of political domination administered by an “Emir” – a monarchical Islamic authority characteristic of the Middle East. The Emirate of Córdoba was the territory of Arab political occupation in Europe, established on the Iberian Peninsula (Al Andalus) between the years 756 and 929. The Christians who lived within said territory were called “Mozarabs”. These made up a numerically important population, of Hispanic-Visigothic origin.
Thanks to the hagiography of San de Eulogio de Córdoba (800-859), it has been possible to preserve the record of the execution of 48 Mozarabic Christians, who defied Islamic law at the time of the invasion. For the most part, these martyrs made public declarations of rejection of the impositions of Islam and proclaimed their fidelity to Christ.
Unity in diversity
All but two of them lived in Córdoba or in the surrounding monasteries of the mountains, so there were hermit monks among them. In total there were 38 men and 10 women of various ages, with a predominance of young people. Eulogius himself is counted in this group of martyrs.
Of the total number of martyrs, 35 were clerics—priests, deacons or monks—and 12 were laymen. The group of lay people was divided as follows: four were converts from Muslim families, five came from mixed marriages (Christian-Muslim) and the remaining three were former Islamized Christians who had returned to the bosom of the Church. All except two, Sancho and Argimiro, were beheaded.
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