SS. NUNILO AND ALODIA, VIRGINS AND MARTYRS IN
SPAIN
RODERIC having dethroned and pulled out the eyes
of Vitiza, the Gothic king of Spain, and excluded his children from
the crown, usurped himself the throne, in 711. Count Julian, the most
powerful nobleman in Spain, and governor of that part which was
contiguous to the Straits, out of revenge for an insult which Roderic
had offered his daughter, whom that tyrant had ravished, invited the
Moors or Saracens from Africa into Spain Mousa, who was governor of
those Saracens, having obtained the consen of the caliph Miramolin,
sent first only twelve thousand men under a general named Tarif, who
easily possessed themselves of Mount Calpe, and the town Heraclea,
which these Moors called from that time, Gibraltar, or Mount of
Tarif, from this general, and the word Gibel, which in Arabic
signifies mountain; whence tna in Sicily was called by the Saracens,
Gibel. These Moors maintained their ground in this fortress, and
being reinforced from Africa, defeated the Spaniards in Andalusia.
King Roderic was no more heard of after this battle; but two hundred
years after, his tomb was discovered in a country church in Portugal;
from which circumstance it is conjectured that he fled, and hid
himself in that country. Tarif made himself master of Mantesa,
Malaga, Murcia, and Toledo, the capital of the Gothic empire. Mousa,
jealous of his success, crossed the Straits with another army, took
Seville, Merida, and other places, and in three years time the Moors
or Saracens were masters of all Spain, in 716, and carried away an
immense booty. A misunderstanding arising between Tarif and Mousa,
they were both recalled by Miramolin, and Mousa’s son
Abdalasisa left governor of Spain, and Seville made the capital,
though Tarif had resided at Cordova. The Spanish Goths chose
Pelagius, the sole surviving prince of the blood royal, king of
Spain, in 716, who assembled an army in the mountains of Asturias,
recovered that country, Galicia, and Biscay, and afterwards Leon; and
erected the Christian kingdom, called first of Asturias afterwards of
Leon. This prince gave great proofs of his valor and piety; as did
his successor, Alphonsus the Catholic. The Saracen governors,
especially the third, called Abderamene, ruled with great cruelty,
and often carried their arms into the southern parts of France, but
were repulsed by Charles Martel. This governor Abderamene, surnamed
Adahil, in 759 shook off all dependence upon the sultans of Egypt,
took the title of king and fixed his court at Cordova; and the other
Moorish governors in Spain imitated his example. After the first
desolation of war many of these princes tolerated the Christians in
their dominions, and allowed them to build new churches and
monasteries under certain conditions, and according to the laws of a
polity established by them. But, in the ninth century, a most cruel
persecution was raised at Cordova, by king Abderamene the Second, and
his son Mahomet.
Among the numberless martyrs who in those days
sealed their fidelity to the law of God with their blood, two holy
virgins were most illustrious. They were sisters, of noble
extraction, and their names were Nunilo and Alodia. Their father was
a Mahometan, and their mother a Christian, and after the death of her
first husband, she was so unhappy as to take a second husband who was
also a Mahometan. Her two daughters, who had been brought up in the
Christian faith, had much to suffer in the exercise of their religion
from the brutality of this step-father, who was a person of high rank
in Castile. They were also solicited by many suitors to marry, but
resolving to serve God in the state of holy virginity, they obtained
leave to go to the house of a devout Christian aunt, where, enjoying
an entire liberty as to their devotions, they strove to render
themselves every day more agreeable to their divine Spouse. Their
fasts were severe, and almost daily, and their devotions were only
interrupted by necessary duties or other good works. The town where
they lived, named Barbite, or Vervete, (which seems to be that which
is now called Castro Viejo, near Najara in Castile, upon the borders
of Navarre,) being subject to the Saracens, when the laws of king
Abderamene were published against the Christians, they were too
remarkable by their birth and the reputation of their zeal and piety
not to be soon apprehended by the king’s officers. They
appeared before the judge not only undaunted, but with a holy joy
painted on their countenances. He employed the most flattering
caresses and promises to work them into a compliance, and at length
proceeded to threats. When these artifices failed him, he put them
into the hands of impious women, hoping these instruments of the
devil would be able by their crafty address to insinuate themselves
into the hearts of the virgins. But Christ enlightened and protected
his spouses, and those wicked women after many trials were obliged to
declare to the judge that nothing could conquer their resolution. He
therefore condemned them to be beheaded in their prison; which was
executed on the 22d of October, 851, or, according to Morales, in
840. Their bodies were buried in the same place: the greatest part of
their relics is now kept in the abbey of St. Saviour of Leger, in
Navarre. Their festival is celebrated with an extraordinary concourse
of people at Huesca in Aragon, and at Bosca, where a portion of their
relics is preserved. See St. Eulogius Memoria1,1. 2, c. 7; Ambr.
Morales, in schol. ad Eulog. p. 286; Mariana, &c.