Destruction of Ancient Spanish Churches by Muslims

 

What happened to all those many old Spanish churches built before the Islamic invasion of Iberia in 711, and even those built afterwards? Well, most of them were destroyed by Muhammad I of Cordoba upon becoming the Muslim ruler in 852. St. Eulogius of Cordoba (+859) explains:

"Though the prince's (Muhammad I's) fierce conspiracy against God's Flock was growing and he was afflicting Christians everywhere and with greater frequency even so not everyone was rushing to his rite [i.e. Islam] as part of a more widespread collapse as he thought they would. So he ordered churches of more recent construction to be destroyed, and commanded that whatever stood out in the way of new adornments on the old churches---that is, anything that had been added to the basic structure of the old churches during the time of the Arabs--be dismantled. Seizing this opportunity, the satraps of hell undermined the roofs of temples that had, in fact, been erected in the time of peace by the zeal and industry of our fathers, [thus destroying some] nearly three hundred years after their foundation."
[Chapter 3, Book III, Memorial Sanctorum, by St. Eulogius of Cordoba]

St. Columba of Cordoba on Slander and Idle Tales

 The Holy Virgin-Martyr Columba of Cordoba (+853) on why she never listened to slander and idle tales:

"I know the wiles of the demons and I know the insolence of men, who sometimes attack with the scorn of their maledictions someone whom God Omnipotent regards as being approved by most worthy merits. Many things approved and sanctified by Divine Consideration are condemned by human judgment. Frequently men transgress against Divine Meaning with their own opinions when they are ignorant of the merits by virtue of which someone stands in His Presence. They praise him as worthy or they defame him as reprehensible, as if they have knowledge of hidden things; certainly they would judge themselves to be innocent if they were to turn their attention to themselves. If they considered the size and type of burden to which any given person may be subject or what may have been destined for the one accused, by no means would they so culpably argue about things they do not know. Some do these things so that the Divine Censure that was formerly brought against us may be truly confirmed, the One that says: 'Attend, and hearken; no man speaketh what is good, there is none that doth penance for his sin, saying: What have I done?' [Jer. 86] They who, ignoring the beam of their own sin, remain anxious about other peoples' motes, [Matt. 7:3] accept as true and by no means unbelievable that which they have gathered from the most trivial whisper."
[From the "Life" of St. Columba of Cordoba, as recorded by the Holy Martyr Eulgoius of Cordoba (+857), in "Memoriale Sanctorum", Book III, Chapter 10, section 5]