[2] In the large cities like Toledo and Córdoba, Christians in some cases observed the civil laws that applied during the time of Visigothic rule.

Many of the faithful then fled to Northern Spain; others took refuge in the monasteries of Sierras, and thus the number of Christians shrank eventually to small proportions.

[3] Under Abd-er Rahman II there came a change in the attitude of the Arab rulers, and a fierce persecution ensued, during which many Christians were accused of abusing the memory of Mohammed, of entering mosques, and of conspiracy against the Government.

During 848, Eulogius visited monasteries in northern Iberia, among them San Zacharias, where he received texts of St. Augustine, Horace, Juvenal and Virgil and brought them back to Cordoba.

[7][8] St. Eulogius's friend and biographer Paulus Alvarus affectionately described him as gentle, reverent, well-educated, steeped in Scripture, and so humble that he freely submitted to opinions of others less informed than he.

Again, during the Muslim persecution, in 850, after reading a passage of the works of St. Epiphanius he decided to refrain for a time from saying Mass that he might better defend the cause of the martyrs; however, at the request of his bishop, Saul of Córdoba, he put aside his scruples.

[2] The earliest account of the Quran in a language other than Arabic is Sura al-Ahzab verse 37, translated in the Storia de Mahometh, which Eulogius copied into his Liber apologeticus around the year 857.

[6] Paul Alvarus' Life of Eulogius records that a dove was seen flying above his martyred body, portraying his peacefulness and innocence, which could not be killed despite the attempts of the angered Muslims.