ST PELAGIUS OF CORDOBA, MARTYR - 26 JUNE

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JUNE

Saints celebrated on the 26th of June

ST PELAGIUS OF CORDOBA, MARTYR

In Cordoba, Spain, Saint Pelagius died for the Catholic faith at the age of thirteen. Prior to his martyrdom, he was kept at the court of the Caliph Abderrahman III as a hostage for several Moors who were to be set free by his uncle, Bishop Hermogius von Tuy, in Spanish Galicia. It appears that this condition was not fulfilled three years later, and the boy was offered liberty and life only on condition of apostasy. 

But Pelagius displayed the piety and the courage of faith of the Israelite youths in the Babylonian captivity and replied heartily: "I would rather endure all tortures than deny my Saviour." Embittered by this speech, this "most intelligent and lovable ruler" ordered for the youth to be pinched with red-hot tongs and to be torn into pieces. 

Invoking the name of Jesus, St Pelagius gave up his spirit. The bits and pieces of his body were thrown into the river, and the Christians gathered them up on the bank and interred them in St Gennedius, but the head they buried separately at the Church of St Cyprian.

His death occurred on June 26, 925. In 967, King Ramirus of Asturias and Leon had his relics transferred from Cordoba to the Church of St John the Baptist, Leon. When the Moors under Abu Amer threatened to devastate the city of Leon in 985, the Christians took the holy relics to Oviedo (Ovetum), where King Ferdinand had them transferred to a new coffin in 1023. The local cathedral is rich in relics, which were put there for safekeeping from the Moors. St Pelagius is universally revered in Spain and many churches are built in his honour. In church art, this youthful martyr is depicted with red-hot tongs or tied to the torture bench. He is invoked as the patron saint of horned cattle.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 4, Augsburg, 1875, pp. 758-59)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Pelagius may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.