I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11
Gumesindus, Servusdei and Aurea (850-59)
Guilty of Preaching
Gumesindus, a parish priest, and Servusdei, a monk, were two of 48 Christians decapitated for their faith between 850 and 859 in the Spanish town of Cordoba, which was then part of al-Andalus (as the Iberian Peninsula was known by its Muslim rulers). Both were executed on 13 January 852 during the reign of Abd ar-Rahman II, Emir of Cordoba.
Most of the Christians who died in this series of killings were guilty of preaching openly outside churches. Some, however, were executed because they had converted from Islam. Aurea was one such victim, who was born of Muslim parents but became a Christian. She was brought before a judge by her relatives and forced to recant under duress. Yet despite this she continued to live as a Christian until her family finally ensured she was executed.
Let all the world in every corner sing,
“My God and King!”
The heavens are not too high,
His praise may thither fly:
The earth is not too low,
His praises there may grow,
The church with psalms must shout,
No door can keep them out:
But, above all, the heart
Must bear the longest part.
Let all the world in every corner sing,
“My God and King!”
George Herbert (1593-1633)