Feast day: October 17

St. Ignatius of Antioch

Bishop & Martyr · d. c. 107

Patron of The Church in the eastern Mediterranean

Second bishop of Antioch after Peter, marched to Rome in chains under guard, writing seven letters en route that are foundational to Christian theology.

Ignatius was bishop of Antioch in Syria — one of the greatest cities of the early Church — in the late first and early second century, and by tradition a disciple of the apostle John. He governed his church for many years until, during a persecution under the Emperor Trajan, he was condemned to be sent in chains across the empire to Rome, to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena.

That long journey to death became one of the treasures of early Christianity, for along the way Ignatius wrote a series of letters — seven of them survive — to the churches he passed and to his friend Polycarp. Written by a man going calmly to martyrdom, they burn with love for Christ and concern for the unity of the Church, urging Christians to hold fast to their bishops and to the Eucharist, 'the medicine of immortality.'

In his letter to the Romans he made a startling plea: he begged the Christians of the city not to try to save him or rob him of his crown. 'I am God's wheat,' he wrote, 'and I am to be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may become the pure bread of Christ.' He longed to imitate the death of his Lord and feared only that human kindness might cheat him of it.

His letters are among the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament and the first to use the phrase 'the Catholic Church.' He was martyred in Rome, by tradition in the Colosseum, around the year 107, and is honored as one of the Apostolic Fathers — those who learned the faith directly from the apostles themselves.

His letter from the road, c. 107 AD, contains the earliest surviving use of the phrase 'the Catholic Church.'

“I am the wheat of God, and I must be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ.”
— St. Ignatius of Antioch

Image: AnonymousUnknown author (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: newadvent.org/cathen/07644a.htm