St. Blandina and the Martyrs of Lyons
June 2
J.L. Gérôme, 1875-1885, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.
Introductory
The Abbot Gueranger, in his wonderful “Liturgical Year,” begins his text for June 2 with the following words. “The glory of martyrdom illumines this day with a profusion rarely met with in the cycle; and already we seem to descry the rosy dawn of that brightest day of this month, on which Peter and Paul will consummate in their blood their own splendid confession. Italy and Gaul, Rome and Lyons concur in forming a legion of heroes in the service of heaven. For today Lyons, the illustrious daughter of Rome, is keeping the special festival of a whole phalanx of warriors, headed by the veteran chief, St Pothinus, disciple of St Polycarp, who, in the second century, levied the brave recruits of his battalion on the banks of the Rhone.”
St. Pothinus, Bishop of Lyons, was ninety years old when he laid down his life for his Divine Friend. Asked who the God of the Christians is, he replied, “When thou art worthy, thou shalt know Him.” For this he was tortured to death.
The Roman Martyrology for June 2 informs us: “At Lyons in Gaul, the holy martyrs Pothinus, bishop, Sanctus, deacon, Vetius Epagathus, Maturus, Ponticus, Biblis, Attalus, Alexander, and Blandina, with many others. Their mighty and repeated contests are confirmed by a letter written from the Church of Lyons to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Lucius Verus. Among these martyrs was St. Blandina, who though weaker because of her sex, more feeble in body, and less spirited because of her servile state, underwent more prolonged and sharper trials. However, her courage did not fail, and when her throat was cut, she followed to Heaven the other martyrs whom she had encouraged to victory.”
St. Irenaeus, who succeeded St. Pothinus as Bishop of Lyons, was martyred in 202. In the persecution which claimed the life of St. Irenaeus, nineteen thousand were martyred, so that the city streets literally ran with blood, and people spoke openly of the “depopulation” of Lyons. In 1562 the Calvinists threw St. Irenaeus' body into a river and kicked his head about the streets. So much for Karol Wojtyla's fellow "Christians."
We see in St. Pothinus and St. Irenaeus shining examples of the marvellous unbroken handing-down (i.e. "tradition") of the faith to posterity from the very beginning. Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost delivered the faith to St. John the Beloved and the other Apostles and Disciples. St. John faithfully transmitted it to his close friend and student, St. Polycarp. St. Polycarp faithfully handed down the sacred deposit to St. Pothinus and to St. Irenaeus. St. Irenaeus was also a disciple of Papias, who was himself taught by the Apostles, so that we see in Irenaeus two streams of the same sacred water converging. Famous for his virtues; his faithfulness, his charity, his learning, and his courage, St. Irenaeus combined them all in an unconquerable array in his fight against the evil of heresy. In our day when the very word "faith" is meaningless to almost everybody, including most of those who claim the name "Christian," his example and his merits are invaluable aids.
St. Irenaeus became bishop of Lyons as a result of the martyrdom of St. Pothinus, and it is this earlier persecution that we commemorate today. The persecution was so severe that, in a famous letter describing the situation, one of the faithful (probably St. Irenaeus himself) says "our late loss was abundantly repaired by fresh supplies of generous martyrs who were seized every day until our two churches were deprived of all their eminent men..." This was in 177. The account can be read in Butler's Lives of the Saints for June 2, and would have to rank as one of the most wonderful passages of literature that the world has ever seen. Extracts will be given below. The torturers themselves were exhausted by their activities so that they were forced to relieve each other in shifts, and in one case gave up after a 24-hour session in which they attempted to break a timid and weak slave girl called Blandina. She repeatedly declared "I am a Christian; no wickedness is transacted among us," and suffered such torments that the torturers stated that any single one of them should have ended her life by itself. And this was merely the beginning of the marvellous story of St. Blandina.
The martyrs of 177A.D.
We could not want for a better description of the persecution which crowned St. Blandina a martyr than we have in the letter which was sent to the faithful in Asia Minor by those who survived the slaughter at Lyons. The famed ecclesiastical historian, Eusebius, gives the letter in toto. The following are extracts from it, highlighting the role of St. Blandina in particular.
"But those who were worthy were seized day by day, filling up their number, so that all the zealous persons, and those through whom especially our affairs had been established, were collected together out of the two churches. And some of our heathen servants also were seized, as the governor had commanded that all of us should be examined publicly. These, being ensnared by Satan, and fearing for themselves the tortures which they beheld the saints endure, and being also urged on by the soldiers, accused us falsely of Thyestean banquets and Edipodean intercourse, and of deeds which are not only unlawful for us to speak of or to think, but which we cannot believe were ever done by men. When these accusations were reported, all the people raged like wild beasts against us, so that even if any had before been moderate on account of friendship, they were now exceedingly furious and gnashed their teeth against us. And that which was spoken by our Lord was fulfilled: 'The time will come when whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.' Then finally the holy witnesses endured sufferings beyond description, Satan striving earnestly that some of the slanders might be uttered by them also.
"But the whole wrath of the populace, and governor, and soldiers was aroused exceedingly against Sanctus, the deacon from Vienne, and Maturus, a late convert, yet a noble combatant, and against Attalus, a native of Pergamos where he had always been a pillar and foundation, and Blandina, through whom Christ showed that things which appear mean and obscure and despicable to men are with God of great glory, through love toward him manifested in power, and not boasting in appearance. For while we all trembled, and her earthly mistress, who was herself also one of the witnesses, feared that on account of the weakness of her body, she would be unable to make bold confession, Blandina was filled with such power as to be delivered and raised above those who were torturing her by turns from morning till evening in every manner, so that they acknowledged that they were conquered, and could do nothing more to her. And they were astonished at her endurance, as her entire body was mangled and broken; and they testified that one of these forms of torture was sufficient to destroy life, not to speak of so many and so great sufferings. But the blessed woman, like a noble athlete, renewed her strength in her confession; and her comfort and recreation and relief from the pain of her sufferings was in exclaiming, 'I am a Christian, and there is nothing vile done by us.'
…
"After these things, finally, their martyrdoms. For plaiting a crown of various colours and of all kinds of flowers, they presented it to the Father. It was proper therefore that the noble athletes, having endured a manifold strife, and conquered grandly, should receive the crown, great and incorruptible.
"Maturus, therefore, and Sanctus and Blandina and Attalus were led to the amphitheatre to be exposed to the wild beasts, and to give to the heathen public a spectacle of cruelty, a day for fighting with wild beasts being specially appointed on account of our people. Both Maturus and Sanctus passed again through every torment in the amphitheatre, as if they had suffered nothing before, or rather, as if, having already conquered their antagonist in many contests, they were now striving for the crown itself. They endured again the customary running of the gauntlet and the violence of the wild beasts, and everything which the furious people called for or desired, and at last, the iron chair in which their bodies being roasted, tormented them with the fumes. And not with this did the persecutors cease, but were yet more mad against them, determined to overcome their patience. But even thus they did not hear a word from Sanctus except the confession which he had uttered from the beginning. These, then, after their life had continued for a long time through the great conflict, were at last sacrificed, having been made throughout that day a spectacle to the world, in place of the usual variety of combats.
“But Blandina was suspended on a stake, and exposed to be devoured by the wild beasts who should attack her. And because she appeared as if hanging on a cross, and because of her earnest prayers, she inspired the combatants with great zeal. For they looked on her in her conflict, and beheld with their outward eyes, in the form of their sister, him who was crucified for them, that he might persuade those who believe on him, that every one who suffers for the glory of Christ has fellowship always with the living God. As none of the wild beasts at that time touched her, she was taken down from the stake, and cast again into prison. She was preserved thus for another contest, that, being victorious in more conflicts, she might make the punishment of the crooked serpent irrevocable; and, though small and weak and despised, yet clothed with Christ the mighty and conquering Athlete, she might arouse the zeal of the brethren, and, having overcome the adversary many times might receive, through her conflict, the crown incorruptible."
St. Blandina
…
“While these were being examined, a certain Alexander, a Phrygian by birth, and physician by profession, who had resided in Gaul for many years, and was well known to all on account of his love to God and boldness of speech, standing before the judgement seat, and by signs encouraging them to confess, appeared to those standing by as if in travail. But the people being enraged because those who formerly denied now confessed, cried out against Alexander as if he were the cause of this. Then the governor summoned him and inquired who he was. And when he answered that he was a Christian, being very angry he condemned him to the wild beasts. And on the next day he entered along with Attalus. For to please the people, the governor had ordered Attalus again to the wild beasts. And they were tortured in the amphitheatre with all the instruments contrived for that purpose, and having endured a very great conflict, were at last sacrificed. Alexander neither groaned nor murmured in any manner, but communed in his heart with God. But when Attalus was placed in the iron seat, and the fumes arose from his burning body, he said to the people in the Roman language: 'Lo! this which ye do is devouring men; but we do not devour men; nor do any other wicked thing.' And being asked, what name God has, he replied, 'God has not a name as man has.'
"After all these, on the last day of the contests, Blandina was again brought in, with Ponticus, a boy about fifteen years old. They had been brought every day to witness the sufferings of the others, and had been pressed to swear by the idols. But because they remained steadfast and despised them, the multitude became furious, so that they had no compassion for the youth of the boy nor respect for the sex of the woman. Therefore they exposed them to all the terrible sufferings and took them through the entire round of torture, repeatedly urging them to swear, but being unable to effect this; for Ponticus, encouraged by his sister so that even the heathen could see that she was confirming and strengthening him, having nobly endured every torture, gave up the ghost. But the blessed Blandina, last of all, having, as a noble mother, encouraged her children and sent them before her victorious to the King, endured herself all their conflicts and hastened after them, glad and rejoicing in her departure as if called to a marriage supper, rather than east to wild beasts. And, after the scourging, after the wild beasts, after the roasting seat, she was finally enclosed in a net, and thrown before a bull. And having been tossed about by the animal, but feeling none of the things which were happening to her, on account of her hope and firm hold upon what had been entrusted to her, and her communion with Christ, she also was sacrificed. And the heathen themselves confessed that never among them had a woman endured so many and such terrible tortures.
St. Blandina
"But not even thus was their madness and cruelty toward the saints satisfied. For incited by the Wild Beast, wild and barbarous tribes were not easily appeased, and their violence found another peculiar opportunity in the dead bodies. For, through their lack of manly reason, the fact that they had been conquered did not put them to shame, but rather the more enkindled their wrath as that of a wild beast, and aroused alike the hatred of governor and people to treat us unjustly; that the Scripture might be fulfilled: 'He that is lawless, let him be lawless still, and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still.' For they cast to the dogs those who had died of suffocation in the prison, carefully guarding them by night and day, lest any one should be buried by us. And they exposed the remains left by the wild beasts and by fire, mangled and charred, and placed the heads of the others by their bodies, and guarded them in like manner from burial by a watch of soldiers for many days. And some raged and gnashed their teeth against them, desiring to execute more severe vengeance upon them; but others laughed and mocked at them, magnifying their own idols, and imputed to them the punishment of the Christians. Even the more reasonable, and those who had seemed to sympathise somewhat, reproached them often, saying, 'Where is their God, and what has their religion, which they have chosen rather than life, profited them?' So various was their conduct toward us; but we were in deep affliction because we could not bury the bodies. For neither did night avail us for this purpose, nor did money persuade, nor entreaty move to compassion; but they kept watch in every way, as if the prevention of the burial would be of some great advantage to them."
…
"The bodies of the martyrs, having thus in every manner been exhibited and exposed for six days, were afterward burned and reduced to ashes, and swept into the Rhone by the wicked men, so that no trace of them might appear on the earth. And this they did, as if able to conquer God, and prevent their new birth; 'that,' as they said, 'they may have no hope of a resurrection, through trust in which they bring to us this foreign and new religion, and despise terrible things, and are ready even to go to death with joy. Now let us see if they will rise again, and if their God is able to help them, and to deliver them out of our hands.'"
According to St. Gregory of Tours, some of the relics of these martyrs were returned to Christian hands by the Good Lord Himself, miraculously recovered from the river where they were thrown.
And, in the year of Our Lord, 2001, I am in possession of one of these miraculously recovered relics of St. Blandina, who has not only conquered Satan and his instruments of the Second Century, but continues to do by her merits and her intercession. (I was given the relic by some Novus Ordo "nuns" - they didn't want it around any longer.) This girl is very much an imitator of Christ. She was the most despised, a slave and a mere girl, dismissed even by her own as too weak for the victory, and yet she became the "mother" of them all by her constancy and her prayers. The Catholic Encyclopedia (article on Patrons) lists St. Blandina as the special patron of girls, as St. Aloysius is the special patron of boys. St. Blandina was a minor when martyred.
The Amphitheatre of Lyons today
St. Irenaeus is credited with the conversion of almost the whole of the country around Lyons, by his incomparable preaching and virtues. No doubt he would be the first to acknowledge the merits of the Martyrs of Lyons, including their “mother,” little St. Blandina, as a key source of the great graces he distributed in that region.
St. Alphonsus, in his “Victories of the Martyrs,” pays special tribute to this girl-saint. “The scene of blood was terminated by the martyrdom of St. Blandina, whose glorious triumph is worthy of special commemoration.” The great Doctor notes that she was a slave and physically frail, and yet that “no one could evince more courage than Blandina, or greater patience in enduring the various tortures by which her constancy was tried.”
St. Alphonsus closes his account with these words of exhortation. “The strength evinced by these martyrs, in enduring these cruel and most bitter tortures with so much constancy, proves to us that the souls who really love Jesus Christ, and are dedicated to His service, can easily overcome, by the assistance of His grace, whatever tribulations we are doomed to suffer in this life.”
The Church of St. Blandina, Lyons.
O Glorious St. Blandina, pray for us!
John Lane
June 2, 2001
Feast of the Martyrs of Lyons
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