Saints Aurelius, Natalia and Companions

Saints Aurelius, Natalia and Companions are five martyrs beheaded at Córdoba in 852 for their faith in Christ: two married couples, Aurelius and Sabigotho, also called Natalia, and Felix and Liliosa, together with George, a monk and deacon from the East. The Roman Martyrology commemorates them on July 27, the day of their death.

Aurelius was the son of a Muslim father and a Christian mother, and he was raised by a Christian aunt. Sabigotho was born into a Muslim family, but her stepfather, a secret Christian, brought her to baptism. Felix, a relative of Aurelius, had once become a Muslim but returned to Christ, and his wife Liliosa was the daughter of Christians who hid their faith. The law of the emirate counted them as Muslims and punished abandoning Islam with death, so both couples practiced their faith in secret.

The turning point for Aurelius was the sight of John, a Christian merchant, flogged and publicly humiliated for words taken as an insult to Muhammad. He then decided to profess his faith openly, even at the cost of his life. With Sabigotho he took up a life of penance: from then on they lived as brother and sister, fasted, helped the poor, and visited imprisoned Christians, among them the priest Eulogius. Eulogius writes that after the martyrdom of the virgins Flora and Mary, both appeared to Sabigotho and foretold that she would join them when a foreign monk arrived.

The couple sold their property and gave it to the poor, and entrusted their two daughters, aged five and eight, to the monastery at Tabanos. Then George appeared in Córdoba. The Martyrology calls him a monk and deacon from Syria; according to Eulogius he came from the area of Bethlehem and belonged to the monastery of Saint Sabbas near Jerusalem, and he had come to Spain while collecting alms for his community. At Tabanos he was directed to Sabigotho, who recognized in him the promised monk. George resolved to share the couple’s fate, and soon Felix and Liliosa joined them.

On the appointed day Sabigotho and Liliosa went to church with their faces unveiled, showing that they were Christians. Soon soldiers brought the whole group before the judge. They were promised favor if they abandoned their faith, but they refused. Since George was a foreigner, the authorities wanted to release him, but he himself spoke out sharply against Islam and was condemned with the others. According to the Martyrology, they did not cease to praise Christ in prison. They were beheaded on July 27, 852, under Abd al-Rahman II, emir of Córdoba.

They were buried in various churches and monasteries of Córdoba. Eulogius, who knew them personally, soon recorded their story; he himself died a martyr in 859. The Christians of Córdoba were divided on this matter: some bishops and faithful wanted to restrain those who sought martyrdom of their own accord, while Eulogius defended their memory. In the account of the translation of some of their relics to Paris in 858, Sabigotho bears the name Natalia. They have been venerated as saints since the ninth century, without a formal canonization.