ON S. FANDILA THE PRESBYTER,
MONK AND MARTYR OF CORDOVA.
IN THE YEAR DCCCLIII.
Preliminary Synopsis on cult & time.
Fandilas, Presbyter, Monk & Martyr, at Cordova in Spain (S.)
G. H.
[1] We proceed to set forth illustrious Martyrs,
suffering at Cordova under the Saracens.
Of these we have given on day III of this month
June, S. Isaac the Monk; on day
V, S. Sancius the youth, raised
in the royal court; & on day VII,
SS. Peter the Presbyter, Walabonsus the Deacon,
Sabinian, Westrebund, Habentius,
& Jeremiah; to whom on this day we add
S. Fandila, Monk & Presbyter; more
to be given hereafter. He was a Monk in the Tabanensian
cenobium, situated in the parts of the North, between the precipices
of the mountains, seven miles from the city, but afterwards
destroyed by the Saracens, A Monk, the Monks fleeing to the city,
as S. Eulogius teaches book 3 chap. 10. A Presbyter
or Priest he was created, A Priest, at the asking of the Monks of the cenobium
of S. Salvador & by the judgment of the Abbot: under King
Mahomad, son & successor of Abderrahman
the King, dying in the year DCCCXXXIX: but his son
Mahomad reigned until the year DCCCLXXIV, under
whom Era DCCCXC, A Martyr in the year 853. or year of Christ DCCCLIII, by martyrdom
he was crowned on the day XIII June, as is established from the Acts
of SS. Anastasius, Felix & Digna, crowned on the day
next after S. Fandila. The Acts S. Eulogius edited, book 3
of the Memorial of Saints: from whose chap. 1 & 6 we set forth
some things, Acts by the author S. Eulogius. & then more from chap. 7 we relate; from
chap. 8 to subjoin, on the following day, the martyrdom of SS.
Anastasius, Felix & Digna. Usuard, who lived at the same
time, inscribed S. Fandila on his Martyrology
with these words: On the same day on the Ides of June, S. Fandila
the Presbyter, who at Cordova the city, with head
cut off, undertook martyrdom. Followed Petrus de
Natalibus book 5 chap. 147, Bellinus, Greven, Molanus,
Maurolycus, Galesinius, Canisius, & with
them various Martyrologies, both manuscript & print
, Martyrologies & especially the Roman, in which these things are read.
At Cordova, of S. Fandila the Presbyter & Monk,
who in the Arab persecution, with head cut off, for
the faith of Christ underwent martyrdom. More also from the Acts
Ambrosius Morales, born of Cordova, sets forth, book
14 of the History of Spain chap. 19; Joannes Marietta,
book 3 of the Ecclesiastical History on the Saints of Spain chap.
8; & Acts in Spanish. Villegas in the Flowers of Saints; Martinus de Roa,
on the Saints of Cordova fol. 94 & following; where
he subjoins some things, which from the Spanish into Latin
Joannes Tamayus Salazar in the Spanish Martyrology
published on this day XIII June, which we also subjoin. Ferrarius,
I know not for what cause, referred Fandila to
day XVI June.
ACTS OF THE MARTYRDOM.
By the author S. Eulogius in the Memorial of Saints.
Fandilas, Presbyter, Monk & Martyr, at Cordova in Spain (S.)
BHL Number: 2823
FROM MSS.
Book 3 chap. 1
[1] Mahomad having attained the empire of his father, immediately
breaking forth into ready hatred against us,
on the very day, After the Christians ejected from the palace, on which crowned with fasces, he ascended the throne about to reign,
dismissing all the Christians from the palace,
he promulgated them unworthy of principal court service.
These again afterwards, no long interval,
under tributary census he prescribed, & deprived many of
royal reward, who long had been fed with military
rations. And because it is written: As the judge
of the people is, so are also his ministers; Ecli. 10, 2 to these at the same time
he commits the helms of the city, who with like zeal
of controversy laboring against the people of God,
would afflict, overturn & oppress him everywhere:
that they would not only not at all presume their own Vates (i.e. prophet) to be defamed,
but also forced by terrors would confess the abominable
worship. Thus also unbearable sorrow,
& truculent persecution from all sides,
meeting us, immersed very many in the snare of prevarication.
Chap. 6
[2] These evils meanwhile threatening, & the Church being beaten by such
afflictions, & the insult of the Chiefs against the Martyrs, they say on this account
the King filled with great gladness, was promising to himself
to bring more numerous scandals on the faithful, & by dire
incursion and trouble to crush them, if a favorable
success in reigning he should obtain longer: so much that
most of the Chiefs, mocking the constancy of the formerly
passing Martyrs, reported to us; Whither
now has gone that virtue of your Athletes? whither
has fled their magnanimity? whither absorbed does their boldness
hide? where has their enervated fortitude withdrawn itself? who lately
with hastened steps competing rushed to attack our
Dogmatist, justly avenged were destroyed.
Now let them be present, now will they come, only let them hasten,
if divinely inspired they preserve in truth that
contest.
Chap. 7
[3] When therefore against us they were insulting with such derisions,
& with this mockery were almost wearying our consummated
misery by disasters; S. Fandila of Guadix, studies at Cordova. a certain youth
Fandila, a young man comely in appearance, of honest
life approvable, holy & God-fearing Presbyter,
these slaughters & cruel hazards, the door & approach
first of exercising martyrdom, under the privilege of this
tyrant, opened. So he from the city Accitana (Guadix)
born, coming to Cordova for the sake of learning,
passing almost his whole youth there under the teaching of a tutor;
immediately as he came to adolescence,
delighted by monastic life, Tabanensian Monk, there to the Monks
he joined himself, continually serving God as a soldier. He several
places having passed through & changed, in which his ardent
devout mind could not rest, finally
betook himself to the Tabanensian cenobium. There for some time
under regular discipline or governance of the Abbot
Martin remaining, he more perfectly shone in fear of the Lord
.
[4] & a Priest at S. Salvador's, And because he was of highest humility & great
obedience, therefore by the grace of sanctity, with which
he shone from heaven, the Monks of the cenobium of holy Salvador long imploring
, which not far from the city
of Cordova in the part of the North at the root
of the pinnacle of Mellaris is situated, to the Sacerdotal office
pre-elected unwillingly, & (as I might say) violently,
by the insistence or judgment of his Abbot, the holy
ministry he undertook; & nonetheless of fasts,
vigils, & prayers more than usual
increasing his labors, he was walking from virtue into virtue,
about to see the Lord in Sion, raised by the ladders of merits.
Whose venerable life, & necessarily imitable conversation by all
, when sufficiently with worthy
proclamation of praises, by the report of the same Brothers and Sisters,
over whom he presided, is unfolded; yet
more magnificently is declared, that crossing flourishing
youth with a more robust mind,
he did not hesitate to subject himself to the martyrial sword.
[5] He preaches the Gospel: Therefore with the perfection of the fear of the Lord
accompanying him, when despising all earthly things he had suspended his mind in
heaven, & he was wishing rather to be dissolved, &
to remain with Christ, than to cling to fleeting things;
on a certain day with steadfast countenance standing before the Judge, he preaches
the Gospel, shut in prison, reproaches the immodest prophet,
& he attests that the assembly bound to noxious
worship's filth (unless coming to its senses it apprehend the faith of piety) shall pay with vindictive
fires of punishments. Hence
thrust in prison, & constrained with chains, in dwellings of robbers
he was bound, by principal sentence afterward
to be beheaded.
[6] Which deed the Judge not delaying to be intimated to the royal
hearing, after the Bishop escapes by flight, is kindled with the fire of immense fury; & with a certain
dazed horror, stupid he wonders, what
might be that victorious audacity, which did not fear the King of so great
glory; & such a sublime head of vanity & pride,
& (as he thought) excelling above all things,
with such irreverent handles did not turn away. Wherefore
at the same moment with a terrible voice, he decrees
the Bishop to be seized: but he, prevented by the remedy
of flight, is saved: for as they say, already then
he had decreed, without intercession of any delay, to punish
him. He had even ordered all the Christians by general
sentence to be destroyed, & women by public selling
to be scattered, except those who, religion spurned, would convert to
his worship. And unless this edict were shaken by the counsel
of his Satraps (who because no wise man,
no urbane man, none of the Christian chiefs
had perpetrated such a thing, therefore
asserted all should not be destroyed, the slain man is suspended whom no
personal leader leads to battle) thereafter I believe now
altogether he would extinguish our Christianity partly by the sword,
partly by prevarication. But killing the strongest
athlete by the sword, he ordered him hung on a gibbet beyond the river
.
[7] In the city Accitana feast & Confraternity. So far Eulogius: to which from Martinus de Roa
Tamayus Salazar adds these things. To be noted that the city
Accitana, today Guadix, decreed a solemn feast
to him, by the work of D. Joannes de Fonseca, of his holy
Church the Bishop, at the insistence of Doctor Didacus a sancta
Cruce et Saavedra, Precentor of that Cathedral
. On which festivity the city by vow attends, &
among the citizens a rich Confraternity has been erected: which
also Father Joannes Covarruvias approved, the same Church's
Prelate.
[8] Nor did God wish to leave such love
toward the holy Martyr of Christ unpaid:
because by the intercession of the holy Martyr he took care to perform
many miracles, for the salvation of the sick: among
which that celebrated one of a certain little boy of Accitana,
suffering with epilepsy, who hearing the bells'
clangings, at the Vespers of the same festivity, the Mass
offered & said, was healed. Epileptics healed, Of similar disease was suffering
Maria de Buiza, holy Virgin of the rule of the
Minorites, in the monastery of S. James in the same city;
who having offered a vow to the holy Martyr, finally received
entire health. For several years a tempest of hail,
near the day dedicated to the holy Martyr, a storm of hail calmed. disfigured
the districts of the vineyards, so that all things utterly were devoured.
Hence a certain farmer, confiding in the intercessions of the holy Martyr
, set up a Cross with the name of the blessed Martyr
written, on an eminent rock of the district:
with which fixed thereafter no tempest arose.