Aurea, a God-Fearing Maiden, in the Year 856

Aurea was a noble maiden by descent, and a sister of the martyr John, of whom we have already spoken, from the province of Hispalis, or Seville. She was betrayed and accused by some of her countrymen. The judge, who was a relative of hers, tried by every possible means to draw her away from Christ, and in this he also succeeded. But shortly afterwards she repented of her apostasy, and went daily into the congregation of the believers, so that by hearing the Word of God she might be strengthened in the Spirit against a like conflict in time to come.

The enemy of mankind could not endure that Aurea now held more firmly to God her Creator than before, and so he stirred up another to accuse this maiden to the judge, who at once had her brought by his bailiffs, and threatened her as before. But in this second conflict she was as much stronger to obtain the martyr's crown as, in her former apostasy, she had been too weak to resist the temptation; for she answered the judge in this way, saying: "I have never separated myself from Christ my God; I have never forsaken the religion of true godliness; I have never for one moment held to your impious worship. Though I once, with my tongue, seemed to have fallen away from Christ, my heart was nevertheless far from it, and I had a firm confidence in my Lord Jesus Christ, who has again lifted up my contrite conscience by His consoling promises, saying: 'He who believes in me, though he were dead, yet he shall live.' Though with my words I fell into the snare of denial, my heart was strengthened through the power of faith; for as soon as I went away from you, I kept with heart and mind the faith which I had practiced from infancy. Therefore there is nothing left but to execute me with the sword, or else you must give me liberty to serve my Lord Christ freely."

Then the judge said that she should be kept in prison until he had informed the king of the matter. The result was that the following day, by the king's command, she was put to death with the sword, and then hung by her heels on the gallows, together with a murderer. Her dead body was sunk in the river Betis with several thieves and murderers. She died on the 19th of July, in the year 856, at Cordova, under Mahumad, king of the Saracens. In this account, A. M., folio 311, must be reconciled with Eul., book 3, chapter 17.

REMARK. For further information we would remark that the aforementioned martyress, as regards her profession in the matter of external religion, is to be distinguished from four other persons, Helias, Paulus, Isidore, and Argimirus, together with others, whom the last-mentioned authors, in their account, have noticed just before the martyrdom of Aurea; for they, to all appearance, were of the Roman profession, of which we find no evidence in Aurea. She professed a good profession of Christ her Saviour, and died for it; and on this account she is justly counted among the true believing martyrs, according to what we stated in the note about the martyr John, for the year 850.

NOTE. Since we do not find sufficient light on the persecutions, with regard to the names as well as the confessions of the martyrs, we will now prepare ourselves to take leave of them, and commit those whom we have not noticed, as being too dark before our eyes, to the omniscient God, who will bring all to light. Our purpose is to turn to Italy and England, where more and brighter light has arisen, though it had its beginning in France; so that the papal darkness, particularly in the matter of transubstantiation and the mass, was illuminated by it. Yet this will end as a tragedy, for we shall show that the bright light of truth had to set in rays of blood, and to sink under the earth, as it were, to the sorrow of the true believing Christians.

NOTE. In our account of holy baptism, for the year 860, we made mention of Hincmar, bishop of Laudun, and stated that he desired that infants should be left unbaptized, for which he was greatly censured. But it seems that this was not the last of it, since other writers afterwards relate that he was sentenced and condemned in a certain council in the palace of Dusiacum, in the province of Rheims; and further, that he was sent into banishment, laid in chains, and, two years afterwards, deprived of both his eyes. However, these writers do not all state that this happened to him solely because he rejected infant baptism, but they relate also that it was done through the bitter hatred of the archbishop of Rheims, as well as for other reasons relating to popery. As to the time of this event, the papist Caesar Baronius fixes it in the year 871, though we, from comparison with other authors, would fix it five years earlier. Moreover, though as regards the life and walk of this Hincmar we have found nothing but what is good, we dare not give him a place among the martyrs, because the ancient writers differ in their statements; and so we commit him to God, who will judge his cause.