Though he was
being burned at the stake on the order of Spanish authorities,
Antonio Herrezuelo’s pain was in his spirit. He realized his
wife had renounced her faith in Christ to escape a similar
death.
Antonio could have also saved his life and received life in
prison like his wife. Perhaps he would have someday been
pardoned and been reunited with his wife.
But he would
not recant. The last words he uttered, before soldiers gagged
him, were pleas for his wife. “Please return to Christ and be
forgiven. We will be united together in heaven. Please return!”
he yelled to his wife. Although he had no earthly hope of
reunion, he wanted to be with her in eternity.
After her
husband’s death, Mrs. Herrezuelo was brought back to the prison
to serve out her life sentence. For eight years she wrestled
with God and her own spirit. She could not find peace about her
fateful decision.
Finally, she
publicly returned to faith in Christ, taking back her previous
denial even as the sixteenth-century inquisitors threatened her.
A judge sentenced her to death at the stake—now for the second
and final time.
She was eager
to die and be reunited with her husband. Mrs. Herrezuelo, though
dying, was again at peace. Her first words would be to tell him
of her return to the faith.
