There can be no doubt that Christianity was brought very early into
Spain by the preaching, as is supposed, of St Paul himself, who is said
to have made a missionary journey through Andalusia, Valencia, and
Aragon. On the other hand, there are no grounds whatever for supposing
that James, the brother of John, ever set foot in Spain. The "invention"
of his remains at Ira Flavia in the 9th century, together with the story
framed to account for their presence in a remote corner of Spain so far
from the scene of the Apostle's martyrdom, is a fable too childish to
need refutation.

The honour of first hearing the Gospel message has been claimed (but, it
seems, against probability) for Illiberis.[1] However that may be, the
early establishment of Christianity in Spain is attested by Irenæus, who
appeals to the Spanish Church as retaining the primitive doctrine.[2]
The long roll of Spanish martyrs begins in the persecution of Domitian
(95 A.D.) with the name of Eugenius, bishop of Toledo. In most of the
succeeding persecutions Spain furnished her full quota of martyrs, but
she suffered most under Diocletian (303). It was in this emperor's reign
that nearly all the inhabitants of Cæsar Augusta were treacherously
slaughtered on the sole ground of their being Christians; thus earning
for their native city from the Christian poet Prudentius,[3] the proud
title of "patria sanctorum martyrum."

[1] Florez, "España Sagrada," vol. iii. pp. 361 ff.

[2] Bk. I. ch. x. 2 (A.D. 186).

[3] 348-402 A.D.

The persecution of Diocletian, though the fiercest, was at the same time