Perfectus of Córdoba

A priest of Córdoba, trained at the church of St Acisclus, he spoke Arabic and mixed easily with his Muslim neighbours. One day in 850 a group stopped him in the street and asked what Christians thought of Christ and of Muhammad. He refused at first, knowing what a frank answer cost; they promised him impunity, and he spoke, saying of the prophet what the Christian polemic of the day said. They let him go. A few days later the same men had him arrested and testified against him. Imprisoned, he was beheaded on the feast of the Breaking of the Fast, in April 850. He is the first of the “martyrs of Córdoba”, whose chronicle and defence were written by Eulogius, a priest of the same city and later a martyr himself.