The Lives of the Saints through 100 Masterpieces

Blandina

The Lives of the Saints 56 Blandina June 2 A letter written immediately after the fact by fugitive members of the Christian community of Lyons informs us precisely of what happened in the year 177, in that former capital of Gaul. Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher emperor, had reinstated the persecution against the growing sect, which was quickly spreading across the empire. In Lyons, a dozen presumed Christians were arrested with their bishop Pothinus and were ordered to sacrifice to the gods of the city as proof that they were not abominable anarchists. Among them was a slave named Blandina. Like her companions, she refused to apostatize even under torture, repeating to her tormentors, “I am Christian, and we do no wrong.” Her martyrdom was made into a public display at the circus games, as was the custom of the time, which sought to combine pleasure with utility, as well as with threats against those who might want to embrace the new faith. Thrown to the lions in the arena, she was spared by the beasts, contrary to what some representations of her martyrdom depict. She was finally killed after being wrapped in a net and delivered to a raging bull that tossed her up into the air with its horns. The cult of Saint Blandina, patroness of Lyons (and of servants), is almost exclusively confined to France, as she is little known beyond French borders. French Illumination (second half of the fifteent century) The Martyrdom of Saint Blandina Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris ...