Roderick and Solomon

The Holy Martyrs Roderick and Solomon were martyrs of Córdoba in Spain, put to death for Christ on 13 March 857. Roderick was a Mozarab priest of Cabra and one of the Martyrs of Córdoba.

According to tradition, he had two brothers: one a Muslim, the other indifferent in faith. When the two quarreled, Roderick tried to separate them, but they turned on him and beat him so badly that he seemed dead. The Muslim brother carried him on a stretcher through the streets, telling people that Roderick had renounced the Christian faith, and that if he died he would die a Muslim. Roderick left and later returned to Córdoba dressed as a priest. His brother denounced him to the qadi for having returned to Christianity after declaring himself a Muslim, which as apostasy was punishable by death. He was arrested and, before the authorities, confessed that he was a priest and denied having become a Muslim. In prison he met Solomon, held for a similar matter; they grew close, prayed together and prepared for martyrdom. The qadi kept them longer, to make them yield, then separated them, but they remained unshaken. On 13 March 857 they were condemned to death, beheaded and thrown into the Guadalquivir.

According to the account of Saint Eulogius, Solomon appeared in a dream to a priest and told him where his body lay, on the river bank near the "Square of the Nymphs"; the bodies were found after some twenty days. The convent and hospital of Saint Roderick at Cabra, from the 16th century, bear his name. They are commemorated on 13 March, by the Western calendar (new style), as saints of the undivided Church.