Rogelio of Íllora

Rogelio of Íllora was a monk and martyr in Córdoba, in Muslim-⁠ruled Spain, put to death on 16 September 852. He was born at Íllora in the province of Granada, and is the patron of the town. His name, of Germanic origin, is thought by some to mean the victorious one.

He lived in the 9th century in the Parapanda mountains, among Christians who had passed to Islam and Mozarabic communities that kept their faith, at a time when this was ever harder. In 852, together with a Syrian monk, Servideo (Servusdei), he went to the mosque of Córdoba. According to the story preserved, on a Friday, the holy day of the Muslims, they entered the mosque and began to preach the Gospel, which roused the anger of many people, who beat them and took them to prison. There they retracted nothing and were condemned to death on 16 September. They were the first Christians put to death in the time of the emir Muhammad I.

Rogelio is one of the forty-⁠eight martyrs of Córdoba recorded by Eulogius. At Íllora 16 September is a holiday, with a service and a procession with his statue, and in 2006 a bronze statue of him was set up.

He is a saint of the undivided Church, honored mostly in the West; no Orthodox synodal canonization is known.