again before the Kadi, who asked them in a mild tone of remonstrance,
why they had abandoned the faith of Islam,[4] and refused to live,
promising them at the same time great rewards, if they would become
Moslems again. On their refusal they were remanded for two days, which
seemed a very long time, so eager were they to die. They pass the time
with singing hymns, and are blessed with visits of angels and miraculous
signs. Their chains drop off, and the gaolers dare not again bind those
whom Christ Himself had loosed.[5] The authorities, now as ever, anxious
if possible to avoid extreme penalties, determine to release George,
because they had not themselves[6] heard his blasphemy. He baulks their
merciful intention by repeating his words on the spot, and he is
accordingly led forth and beheaded with the others (July 27, 852).

Within a month Christopher,[7] a monk of Rojana, and of Arab lineage,
and Leovigild, a monk of Fraga, both being places near Cordova, are
executed for the same offence and in the same manner, their dead bodies
being nailed to stakes. While taking the air in his palace,[8] the king
saw these bodies, and ordered them to be burnt, and the ashes scattered
in the river. The same night Abdurrahman II. was struck down with
apoplexy, and the martyrs' friends hailed it as a manifest judgment from
Heaven.

[1] Eulog., "Mem. Sanct.," ii. sec. 27. "Omnes in cornmuni
coepimus _cogitare quomodo ad desideratum perveniremus
coronam:_ et ita _Domino disfiensante_ visum est nobis ut
fugerent sorores nostrae revelatis vultibus ad ecclesiam si
forte nos alligandi daretur occasio, et ita factum est."

[2] _Ibid._, sec. 29. "Exite quibus vita praesens taedium est,
et mors pro gloria computatur."