Saint Berard of Carbio and the Martyrs of Morocco

Life story

The group had five members: Berard, from the Carbio area of Umbria in Italy, the priests Peter and Otho, and the lay brothers Accursius and Adjutus. According to Franciscan sources, after the general chapter of 1219 Francis of Assisi sent them to preach to Muslims in southern Spain and Morocco. Berard was made leader because he knew Arabic.

The friars travelled through Portugal and Spain to Seville, then under Muslim rule. Early accounts say their open preaching led the authorities to imprison them and then send them on to Morocco. There they went on preaching in public, were taken out of the city more than once and came back, until they were finally arrested.

The sources say that when they refused to give up their faith the ruler ordered them beheaded on 16 January 1220. Their remains were taken to Portugal and laid in the Holy Cross monastery at Coimbra. A young Portuguese canon there, later Saint Anthony of Padua, is said to have decided to join the Franciscans after seeing the relics arrive.

Contemporary documentation is limited, and details such as Francis's reported remark on hearing the news belong to the order's tradition rather than to firm history, so they should be read as accounts, not proven facts. Pope Sixtus IV canonised the five in 1481.

Works and witness

• Sent by Francis of Assisi to preach to Muslims after 1219
• Travelled through Portugal and Spain to Seville and then Morocco
• Beheaded on 16 January 1220
• Remains buried at Coimbra, where Anthony of Padua later joined the order
• Canonised in 1481 under Pope Sixtus IV

Saints from the same country

Saint Agnes, Saint Lawrence, Saint Cecilia, Saint Sebastian

References

• Martyrologium Romanum (16 January)
• Butler's Lives of the Saints, entry for 16 January
• Franciscan sources on the Moroccan protomartyrs (Chronica XXIV Generalium)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.