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Holy Martyrs

Peter, Walabonsus, Sabinian, Wistremund, Habentius and Jeremiah of Córdoba

Six martyrs of Córdoba in Spain, put to death in 851.

Feast
June 7old style June 20
Reposed
8519th century
Place
Córdoba
Order
Martyrs

Life

Peter, Walabonsus, Sabinian, Wistremund, Habentius and Jeremiah of Córdoba were six martyrs of Córdoba, in Muslim-⁠ruled Spain, put to death on 7 June 851, in the time of the emir Abd ar-⁠Rahman II. They are remembered together on 7 June.

Peter was a priest, born at Astigi (present-⁠day Écija). Walabonsus, born at Elepha (present-⁠day Niebla), had a mother converted from Islam and a sister, Maria, who would also die a martyr; he had studied at the monastery of Saint Felix, was ordained deacon and worked beside Peter. Sabinian and Wistremund, both from Froniano, were monks of the monastery of Saint Zoilus. Habentius was a monk of the monastery of Saint Christopher and lived in seclusion, with great austerity. Jeremiah, an old man born at Córdoba, had founded the double monastery of Tábanos, where he had retired with his wife, Elizabeth, who became a nun.

They confessed the Christian faith before the court and spoke against Muhammad. Five were put to the sword, and Jeremiah was scourged to death. Their bodies were exposed and then thrown or burned, and the ashes ended in the Guadalquivir. Their deeds were recorded by Eulogius of Córdoba.

They are honored as saints of the undivided Church, mostly in the West; no Orthodox synodal canonization is known.

Commemorated the same day June 7