Seven Apostolic Men

The Seven Apostolic Men (in Spanish "los siete varones apostólicos") are, according to Christian tradition, seven clerics ordained at Rome by the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and sent to preach the Gospel in Spain. They are Torquatus, Caecilius, Ctesiphon, Euphrasius, Indaletius, Hesychius and Secundus. It is not known whether they were Romans, Greeks or natives of Hispania.

The legend probably dates from the eighth century. The Martyrology of Lyon (806) took over a text from a fifth-⁠century source, and the seven are also mentioned in the Mozarabic liturgy. According to tenth-⁠century manuscripts, which preserve reports from the eighth and ninth centuries, they arrived at Acci (Guadix) during the festivals in honor of Jupiter, Mercury and Juno; the pagans chased them to the river, but the bridge collapsed unexpectedly and the seven were saved. A noblewoman named Luparia hid them, accepted the faith and built an altar in honor of Saint John the Baptist.

They set out to preach in different towns of Baetica: Torquatus stayed at Acci (Guadix), Ctesiphon went to Vergium (Berja), Hesychius to Carcere (Cazorla), Indaletius to Urci (Pechina), Secundus to Abula, Euphrasius to Iliturgis, and Caecilius to Iliberis (Elvira, Granada). Only the identification of Iliberis with Elvira, where the synod was held, is regarded as certain. A writer of the ninth century linked their tradition with that of Saint James the Greater, in the account of the bringing of his body to Hispania. The tradition is thought to spring from the concern to show the apostolic origin of episcopal sees, and it mixes true data with others that have been distorted. The cathedral of Guadix keeps statues of the seven, and in 1982 Pope John Paul II said that Spain was won for the faith by their missionary zeal. They are commemorated together on 15 May, by the Western calendar.