SAINT RODERIC AND SOLOMON

Roderic and Solomon 
Feast day: March 13
Death: 837/857

Also known as Rodriguez or Rudericus and Salomon

. Roderic was a priest of Cabra near Córdova. One of his brothers had become an Islamic; the other was a lapsed Christian. One night his brothers got into a fight, and Roderic tried to separate them. They turned on him and beat him unconscious. The Islamic had him placed on a litter and carried through the streets, while announcing Roderic had apostatized and wished to be recognized as an Islamic before he died.

Roderic heard all this in anguish but was too injured to speak. He escaped as soon as he was able. He ran into his Islamic brother on the streets later, and the brother accused him to the kadi of having reverted to Christianity after having declared himself an Islamic--an offense punishable by death even though the Christians themselves were tolerated. Roderick denied having ever embraced Islam, but the kadi did not believe him and had him imprisoned in the most notorious prison in the city.

There Roderic met another prisoner, Solomon, who had been incarcerated for the same reason. They comforted each other, while the kadi left them in prison for a long time, hoping to break them down. They were separated after it was ascertained that they would hold firm. Even alone, however, they remained stoic; they were condemned and beheaded. Saint Eulogius witnessed the guards throw the bloodied pebbles into a stream so that the Christians could not collect them as relics

In art, Saint Roderic is portrayed as a priest in Mass vestments holding a palm as an angel brings him a wreath of roses