When was blandina the martyr born

Christianity had first come to Lyons over 25 years earlier when Polycarp of Smyrna in modern Turkey had sent Pothinus as a missionary to Gaul. Pothinus had diligently established the church of Christ in Lyons and nearby Viennes. As the church grew, spiritual resistance began to mount, and persecution against the Christians began.

Christians were shut out of businesses and houses. They endured all kinds of shame and personal injuries. Mobs formed to beat, stone and rob the Christians. When believers were arrested and examined by the city authorities, they boldly confessed their allegiance to Christ. They were imprisoned to await the arrival of the governor to the region. Some of the non-believing servants of the Christians were also seized. These servants feared being tortured and devised all sorts of false accusations against the Christians--such as that they practiced cannibalism, incest, and other shameful practices.

Such accusations only enraged the mob even more. Holiday Entertainment August 1 was a holiday to celebrate the greatness of Rome and the emperor; the governor was expected to show his patriotism by sponsoring entertainment for the whole city. It was expensive to hire gladiators, boxers and wrestlers. It would be a lot cheaper to torture these Christians as part of the holiday entertainment!

Human Barbecue The Christians were confined in the darkest and most awful part of the prison; many of them suffocated there. Some were placed in stocks; others were placed in a hot-iron seat where their flesh was burned.

This was literally a human barbecue where the victim was chained onto a grate over burning coals. An example of this barbaric torture instrument can still be seen today at the archeological museum at Lyons. Next day the aged bishop Pothinus was led before the magistrate.

He was questioned, and asked who was the God of the Christians. He was then stripped and scourged, and beaten about the head. The crowd outside the barriers now took up whatever was at hand, stones, brickbats, dirt, and flung them at him, howling curses and blasphemies. The old man fell gasping, and in a state hardly conscious was dragged to the prison. And now, on the great day of the fair, when the shows were to be given to the people, the proconsul for their delectation threw open the amphitheatre.

This was a vast oval, capable of holding forty thousand spectators. It was packed. On one side, above the arena, was the seat of the chief magistrate, and near him those reserved for the city magnates. At the one end, a series of arches, now closed with gates of stout bars and cross-bars, hinged above and raised on these hinges by a chain, opened from the dens in which the wild beasts were kept.

The beasts had not been fed for three days, that they might be ravenous. It was the beginning of June — doubtless a bright summer day, and an awning kept off the sun from the proconsul. Those on one side of the amphitheatre, the slaves on the highest row, could see, vaporous and blue on the horizon, above the crowded tiers opposite, the chain of the Alps, their crests white with eternal snows.

Sanctus had to be supported; he could hardly walk, he was such a mass of wounds. All were now stripped of their garments and were scourged.

Blandina was attached to a post in the centre of the arena. She had been forced every day to attend and witness the sufferings of the rest. But even now they were not to be despatched at once. Maturus and Sanctus were placed on iron chairs, and fires were lighted under them so that the fumes of their roasted flesh rose up and were dissipated by the light summer air over the arena, and the sickening savour was inhaled by the thousands of cruel and savage spectators.

Then they were cast off to be despatched with the sword. The dens were opened. Lions, tigers, leopards bounded forth on the sand roaring. By a strange accident Blandina escaped. The hungry beasts paced round the arena, but would not touch her. Then a Greek physician, called Alexander, who was looking on, unable to restrain his enthusiasm, by signs gave encouragement to the martyrs. So at least it would seem, for all at once we learn that the mob roared for Alexander, as one who urged on the Christians to obstinacy.

The governor sent for him, asked who he was, and when he confessed that he was a Christian, sent him to prison. As he was about to be delivered to the tormentors, some one whispered to the proconsul that the man was a Roman. He hesitated, and sent him back to prison. Then a number of other Christians who had Roman citizenship were produced, and 13had their heads struck off. Others who had not this privilege were delivered over to the beasts. And now some of those who had recanted came forward and offered themselves to death.

Next day the proconsul was again in his place in the amphitheatre. He had satisfied himself that Attalus could not substantiate his claim to citizenship, so he ordered him to torture and death. While it would seem that Emperor Marcus Aurelius personally had nothing to do with the Lyon affair, he was criticized for not intervening.

Blandina Saint Blandina Blandina half-roasted on a grill and then thrown to wild bulls. The pole in the arena is a memorial to the martyrs, including Blandina. Blandine in St Irenaus Church, Lyon. Retrieved Lives of the Saints , Vol. New York: Robert Appleton Company, Blandina half-roasted on a grill and then thrown to wild bulls. Church of Saint-Leu, Amiens , France.