Above:  Spain in 910 C.E.

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINTS RODERIC AND SOLOMON OF CABRA (DIED 857)

Roman Catholic Martyrs

857 was a time of persecution of Christianity in Cordoba, the Muslim-ruled part of the Iberian peninsula.  And apostasy is a death penalty offense under Islamic law.    St. Roderic was a priest at Cabra, in Cordoba.  One day St. Roderic witnesses an argument between two brothers, one a Muslim and the other an lapsed Roman Catholic.  The priest intervened to end the altercation, but the Muslim brother had St. Roderic arrested on the trumped-up charge of being an apostate.  The priest went to prison, where he remained faithful to Christ and met St. Solomon, also accused of apostasy.  Both men died of beheading on March 13, 857.

I have written and will continue to write of Christian martyrs.  Sometimes they die at the hands of adherents of other religions or no religion.  Frequently, however, they die by the orders and actions of other professing Christians:  Catholics vs. Orthodox, Orthodox vs Catholics, Iconoclasts vs. defenders of icons, Catholics vs. Protestants, Protestants vs. Catholics, Anglicans vs. Catholics, Catholics vs. Anglicans, Lutherans vs. Calvinists, Calvinists vs. Lutherans, and everybody else vs. the Anabaptists and the Quakers.  It is all wrong; we human beings ought not to martyr each other, regardless of how we justify our actions to ourselves.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 14, 2011 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT VENANTIUS HONORIUS CLEMENTIUS FORTUNATUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

THE FEAST OF CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH, COMPOSER

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Gracious God,

in every age you have sent men and women

who have given their lives in witness to your love and truth.

Inspire us with the memory of

Saint Roderic of Cabra and Saint Solomon of Cordoba,

whose faithfulness led to the way of the cross,

and give us courage to bear full witness with our lives

to your Son’s victory over sin and death,

for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Ezekiel 20:40-42

Psalm 5

Revelation 6:9-11

Mark 8:34-38

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 59

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Revised on December 24, 2016

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