Acisclus of Cordoba

Saint Acisclus, martyr, was a Christian of Córdoba in Hispania who received the death of a martyr in the persecution of Diocletian, in the year 304. He suffered together with his sister Victoria. They are commemorated on 17 November. His name also appears as Ascylus or Ocysellus.

His life is mentioned by Eulogius of Córdoba. Historians doubt the existence of Victoria, but both martyrs were honored in the Mozarabic liturgy. After they were arrested, Acisclus and Victoria were tortured. According to tradition, Victoria was killed by arrows and Acisclus was beheaded.

A tenth-⁠century account of the martyrs says that the Roman prefect of Córdoba, Dion, an "iniquitous persecutor of Christians", cast Acisclus and Victoria into a fiery furnace. When he heard them singing songs of joy from within the furnace, however, Dion ordered them bound to stones and thrown into the Guadalquivir. Soon they were floating unharmed on the surface of the water. Then he hung them over a fire. The fire, however, raged out of control and killed hundreds of pagans. The two saints then accepted martyrdom, having proved their faith.

Their house was turned into a church. In the ninth century some of the martyrs of Córdoba were associated with this church, among them Perfectus, a priest of it.