Women -- Asia -- History; Women -- Middle East -- History
Christians, met Flora and conceived for her a love that was pure and
tender, so admirable did he adjudge her steadfastness to the faith. It
was a day when martyrs willingly laid down their lives, accounting it a
proud distinction to die at the hands of the infidel. They courted
death. So with Flora. Appearing before the judge one day with a
Christian maiden who also sought a martyr's death, this girl of half
Moorish blood, but with staunch Christian faith, reviled that officer
and cursed his religion and the Prophet. The Mohammedan judge pitied the
young girls, but had them thrown into prison. Here they might have
weakened had not Eulogius urged them to stand fast in their holy faith.
The sentence of death was passed upon them; and the girls were led away
to execution. Eulogius, who loved Flora above all else on earth, and
hence desired her to win what he considered the most glorious of all
crowns, that of martyrdom, looked on in the hour of her death, and
wrote: "She seemed to me an angel. A celestial illumination surrounded
her; her face lightened with happiness; she seemed already to be tasting
the joys of the heavenly home.... When I heard the words of her sweet
mouth, I sought to establish her in her resolve, by showing her the crown
that awaited her. I worshipped her, I fell down before this angel, and
besought her to remember me in her prayers; and strengthened by her
speech, I returned less sad to my sombre cell." Thus did Moorish blood
and Christian faith unite to make a life of wonderful daring and
fortitude.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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