St. Eulogius was the son of a noble senatorial family of Cordoba in southern Spain. This city, which at the time counted half a million inhabitants, was the seat of one of the most brilliant courts of Europe under the Mohammedan Caliphs as well as a renowned center for learning, which attracted scholars from all parts of the continent. St. Eulogius received an excellent education; then visited the Christian Kingdom of Navarre in northern Spain; he was ordained to priesthood and became the director of the Cordoba seminary. An avid reader and student, he was renowned alike for his holy life, his great eloquence and for his profound humility.

 

The Saracen rulers had tolerated the Christian religion during the first 130 years of their Spanish occupation, provided the faithful kept their heavy tax payment. But in 850 there began a period of persecution during which numerous martyrs shed their blood for the faith. St. Eulogius did much, by spoken and written word, to encourage the persecuted and imprisoned Christians. His ‘Memorial of the Saints’, which relates the trials of the martyrs, had a profound and widespread effect upon the faithful and kept many from apostatizing.

 

When the Archbishop of Toledo died in 858, St. Eulogius was chosen as his successor, but he was arrested and beheaded shortly before his consecration for daring to defend a Saracen maiden, St. Leocritia, who abandoned Islam for the Catholic faith. In his great zeal, the holy Priest even endeavored to convert his Arab judge by pointing out to him the errors of Mohammed’s doctrine

 

St. Eulogius was put to death on March 11, 859.

 

REFLECTION:

 

It is clear through unlearned men that the cross was persuasive; in fact, it persuaded the whole world. (St. John Chrysostom)