Zoilus of Cordoba

Cordoba, Ermita de San Zoilo, statue of the saint above the gate

Carrión de los Condes, Monastery of San Zoilo, statue of the saint above the portal of the church

Plasencia , Church of San Nicolás, San Zoilo Altar, central panel: Zoilus with his kidneys

Zoilus of Córdoba ( Spanish: San Zoilo ; † 304 ) is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church little known in Central Europe . His name is mentioned in both the Martyrologium Hieronymianum and the Martyrologium Romanum . His feast day is June 27th.

Vita

Nothing is known about the life of Zoilus; his name and his martyrdom are briefly mentioned by Prudentius (approx. 348-405) in the 4th hymn of Peristephanon : According to this, Zoilus and 19 or 20 of his companions were martyred in the context of the Diocletian persecution of Christians in or near the southern Spanish city of Cordoba .

In the medieval martyr report of Zoilus it is told that various tortures, including the most recent cutting out of the kidneys, could not kill him, so that the judge finally beheaded him himself. In the Ermita de San Zoilo in Cordoba, a fountain is shown into which the saint's kidneys were thrown; its water - and the invocation of the holy in general - is said to be helpful in kidney disease. In some depictions Zoilus holds his kidneys in his hands as an attribute .

Adoration

In the year 614, Agapitus II (also Agapius ), the then bishop of Cordoba , searched and found the bones of the saint; these were brought to the Church of San Justo . In the 9th century, the Counts of Carrión transferred the relics to the city on the Way of St. James , where they renamed and expanded an existing Benedictine monastery.

Several Spanish churches and chapels are dedicated to the saint - such as the Iglesia de San Zoilo in Escalona del Prado near Segovia or the Ermitas de San Zoilo in Córdoba and in Cáseda , Navarra . The places Sansol in the province of Navarra and Sanzoles in the province of Zamora are - like their parish churches - named after San Zoilo .

presentation

Medieval representations of the saint are unknown; the few modern depictions are iconographically very inconsistent: some show him as a martyr, others as a Roman soldier.

literature

San Zoilo de Cordoba. In: Memoria histórica. Gentedepaz 1940 (Spanish)

Web links

Commons : Zoilus of Córdoba - Collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Zoilus of Cordoba
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Martyr and saint
DATE OF BIRTH	3rd century
DATE OF DEATH	304
Place of death	Cordoba, Spain