St. Ignatius of Antioch

Their story

Ignatius was the bishop of Antioch, in Syria, one of the first great centers of the Church, where the disciples were first called Christians. According to tradition he had known the apostles. Around the year 107, during the reign of the emperor Trajan, he was arrested for his faith and condemned to be thrown to wild beasts in Rome. On the long journey to Rome under armed guard, Ignatius wrote seven letters to Christian communities along the way and to his friend St. Polycarp. These letters are among the most precious writings of the early Church. In them he urged Christians to stay united around their bishop, to beware of false teachers, and to gather often for the Eucharist, which he called "the medicine of immortality." He is the first writer we know of to use the phrase "the Catholic Church." Ignatius begged the Christians of Rome not to try to save him, because he longed to give his life for Christ. "I am the wheat of God," he wrote, "and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ." He was martyred in Rome around 107. His letters give us a living picture of a bishop who loved Christ, the Church and the Eucharist above his own life.