Aurea of Córdoba, St.
AUREA OF CÓRDOBA, ST.
Widow martyr; b. Córdoba or Seville, c. 810; d. Córdoba, July 19, 856. An Arab of noble descent, Aurea (or Aura) lived as a Christian with her mother Artemia in the monastery of Cuteclara for more than 30 years after the martyrdom of her brothers Adulfus and John in Córdoba. When her own relatives from Seville brought her before the cadi, also related to her, Aurea agreed to abandon Christianity but immediately returned to the practice of her faith. Persecuted a second time, she denied that her previous lapse had been genuine and, constant in her faith, was imprisoned and executed by decree of the emir. Her body was thrown into the Guadalquivir with the bodies of thieves and was never recovered. She was included in the Roman martyrology in 1583.
Feast: July 19.
Bibliography: eulogius, Memoriale sanctorum, Patrologia Latina, ed. j. p. migne (Paris 1878–90) 115:815–818. a. lambert, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912) 5:706–707. e. p. colbert, The Martyrs of Córdoba, 850–859 (Washington 1962) 263–264.
[e. p. colbert]