Their story
Adapted in modern English from Baring-Gould (1897) · original text below · little is known
Under Moorish rule in Spain, Ruderick, a priest of Cabra near Cordova, tried to separate his two brothers, one of whom had become a Muslim, as they fought, and was beaten senseless. The convert brother then paraded him about as a priest who had renounced his faith.
Later this brother denounced him to the cadi (judge) at Cordova as an apostate from Islam. Ruderick denied ever converting, but was jailed with Salomon, held on a similar charge. They encouraged each other, and when separating them failed, the cadi had both beheaded. They had been kept in the foulest cell of the prison, reserved for parricides, in the hope that they would weaken.
Early life
The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.
During the persecution of the Christians under the Moorish occupation of Spain, there was a priest in the village of Cabra, about five-and-twenty miles from Cordova, named Ruderick, who had two brothers, whereof one had renounced Christianity and become a Moslem. One night this apostate brother and the other were quarrelling, and came to blows, when Ruderick rushed between them to separate them, but was so mauled by both, that he fell senseless on the ground. The Mussulman brother then placed him on a litter, and had him carried about the country, walking by his side, and showing him off as a renegade priest.
How they teach us to live
Drawn from themes in the original account
Stay faithful when it costs you. This account is about holding firm under pressure.
Practise small acts of self-denial. The account dwells on fasting and penance; a skipped snack or a phone-free hour is a start.
Learn from the kind of life it was. Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.
