Page:Once a Week Jun to Dec 1864.pdf/445

 430 "It was scarcely three o'clock, or nine, according to the Spaniards' mode of reckoning, when three or four guards of the Pacha entered the bath and inquired for Geronymo, who was still in the church recommending himself to God. He came forth towards these men, who, as soon as they perceived him, commenced, according to their custom, to overwhelm him furiously with insulting language. The servant of God replied not a single word.

"The guards having placed him in their midst, directed their steps towards the fort, of which we have already spoken, where the Pacha awaited him, and which was destined to be the scene of his glorious death. Geronymo having arrived in the presence of the governor, who was accompanied by many renegades and Turks, Euldj-Ali addressed him in these words:—

Bre, juppe!' which means in Turkish: 'Hallo, dog!' wherefore wilt thou not be a Mussulman?'

I will not be one in anything,' replied the martyr of God. 'I am a Christian, and I shall remain a Christian.'

Ah, well,' replied the Pacha, 'if thou wilt not become a Mussulman—look there!' and he showed him the mould for the block of mud. 'Look there: I will bury thee alive there!'

Do what thou wilt,' returned the holy man, with admirable courage. 'I am prepared for all things. The aspect of death will not make me abandon the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.'

"Euldj-Ali, perceiving his grand resolution, ordered the chain upon his leg to be struck off, and his feet and hands to be bound together; also that he should be placed at the bottom of the mud-mould which he had had prepared the previous day, and after this was done, that he should be forthwith buried alive there.

"The guards immediately executed his orders; and Geronymo, his limbs bound, was placed between the planks. A Spanish renegade of the house of Hadji-Mourad, known in Christendom under the name of Tamango, and by the Turks under that of Djafar, who had been taken at the defeat of Mostaganem with the Count d'Alcaudete, jumped with both feet upon the martyr of God, and seizing in his hand one of the rammers lying near, called out that they should at once bring him earth. Accordingly, earth was brought and spread over this holy one of God, who spake not one word, opened not his mouth, being like a gentle lamb before his shearers. Then began Tamango to ram down the earth with both his hands and all his strength, multiplying his furious and cruel blows.

"Seeing this, other renegades from the numerous troop of refugees from the true faith, which surrounded the Pacha, wished also to exhibit themselves as good Mussulmans and accomplished Turks, and seizing other rammers, and ramming down the earth which they brought to the spot, accomplished the death of this glorious martyr of Christ.

"The spirit of Geronymo, we must believe, according to our holy faith, was received by our Lord amongst the number of his saints in Heaven, the martyr obtaining the crown and recompense of his holy and glorious death.

"All being thus ended, and the body of the holy man being covered up in his noble sepulchre, Euldj-Ali returned to the palace, remarking upon the way, that in truth he had not expected this Christian would have received death with so much courage.

"This occurred in the middle of September of the year 1569, upon the 18th, a day which will remain a perpetual remembrance to those who love the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord.

"The Christians who were labouring at the fort Bal-el-Oued, deliberated whether they should remove from thence the body of the saint; but this did not appear possible, since they would have been seen by the Turks and Moors who guarded them. Besides, such a removal would not have been desirable, seeing that the memory of this most happy martyr, and his glorious death and courage, would be best preserved if he remained interred there, on the spot where he suffered, fully in sight not only of the Christians, but of the blind Turks and Moors, and, above all, by the renegades, who, regarding so excellent a martyr of God, would feel themselves confounded, and would suffer regret for their sin.

"If the fort be looked at towards the north, in order to discover the spot where the holy corpse is interred, it may be clearly recognised in the wall, since upon this side there is a block broken up, and, as it were, disturbed. The reason being that the flesh having, in the lapse of time, been consumed from the bones, the earth of this block has sunk,—a movement which is very remarkable.

"We await through the Divine Goodness the arrival of a day when Geronymo shall be drawn forth from this place, and when his body shall be united to those of many other holy martyrs of Christ whose blood and most happy deaths have consecrated this country, in order to be laid together in a more honourable and suitable place, to the glory of the Lord, who has left to us captives such saints and such examples.