Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch (ca. 50 AD - sometime between 98-117 AD). St. Ignatius was a great early expositor of many important Church doctrines. Moreover, St. Ignatius serves as a link between the Church's apostolic period and the time of the Church Fathers.
According to an early legend, St. Ignatius was the child swept up by Jesus in the scene described in Mark 9:35. It is likely St. Ignatius heard the preaching of St. John the Evangelist. He was the third bishop of Antioch, and it is likely St. Peter himself, who had been the first bishop of Antioch, appointed St. Ignatius to this office.
During the persecutions of the Emperor Trajan, St. Ignatius was condemned by Trajan himself to be sent in chains to Rome and there fed to the beasts in the arena. The long journey from Antioch to Rome, made by sea and over land, was filled with many hardships for St. Ignatius. Along the way he composed seven letters which are notable for the many Church doctrines to which they testify. Among the doctrines set out in St. Ignatius' letters are the holiness, catholicity and infallibility of the Church, the doctrine of the Eucharist, the Incarnation and the primacy of the See of Rome. St. Ignatius was also the first to use the term "Catholic Church."
The following is taken from St. Ignatius' Letter to the Ephesians:
And pray without ceasing in behalf of other men. For there is in them hope of repentance that they may attain to God. See, then, that they be instructed by your works, if in no other way. Be meek in response to their wrath, humble in opposition to their boasting: to their blasphemies return your prayers; in contrast to their error, be steadfast in the faith; and for their cruelty, manifest your gentleness.
St. Ignatius of Antioch, pray for us.
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