Blandina
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| Saint Blandina | |
|---|---|
 Blandina half-roasted on a grill and then thrown to wild bulls |
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| Martyr | |
| Born | unknown, Lyon, France |
| Died | 177 AD, Lyon, France |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Major shrine | Church of Saint-Leu, Amiens, France [1] |
| Feast | June 2 |
| Attributes | A bull [2], depicted tied to a pillar with a lion and bear near her [3] |
| Patronage | those falsely accused of cannibalism, servant girls, torture victims |
 Saints Portal |
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Saint Blandina (d. 177) was a virgin and martyr.
Contents |
[edit] Legend
She belongs to the band of martyrs of Lyon who, after some of their number had endured the most frightful tortures, suffered a glorious martyrdom in the reign of Marcus Aurelius (177) and concerning whose death we have the touching report sent by the Church of Lyon to the Churches of Asia Minor (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., V, 2). The fanaticism of the heathen populace in Lyon had been excited against the Christians so that the latter, when they ventured to show themselves publicly, were harassed and ill-treated.
While the imperial legate was away, the chiliarch, a military commander, and the duumvir, a civil magistrate, threw a number of Christians, who confessed their faith, into prison. When the legate returned, the imprisoned believers were brought to trial. Among these Christians was Blandina, a slave, who had been taken into custody along with her master, also a Christian. Her companions greatly feared that on account of her bodily frailty she might not remain steadfast under torture. But although the legate caused her to be tortured in a horrible manner, so that even the executioners became exhausted "as they did not know what more they could do to her", still she remained faithful and repeated to every question "I am a Christian, and we commit no wrongdoing."
Through fear of torture heathen slaves had testified against their masters that the Christians when assembled committed cannibalism and incest, and the legate desired to wring confession of this misconduct from the Christian prisoners. The legate received instructions from the Marcus Aurelius allowing the Roman citizens who persisted in the faith to be executed by beheading (Eusebius, HE 5.1.47), but those without citizenship were free to be tortured. Blandina was, therefore, with a number of companions subjected to new tortures in the amphitheater at the time of the public games. She was bound to a stake and wild beasts were set on her. They did not, however touch her. After this for a number of days she was led into the arena to see the sufferings of her companions. Finally, as the last of the martyrs, she was scourged, placed on a red-hot grate, enclosed in a net and thrown before a wild steer who tossed her into the air with his horns, and at last killed with a dagger.
[edit] Historical View
The historicity of this story is doubtful at best, lacking secondary or secular sources to confirm it. Furthermore it would not be in tune with the official policy worked out by Pliny the Younger and the Emperor Trajan a few decades earlier, that declared Christianity "to be illegal, but that members of the faith were not to be sought, but punished if the charge was proven." That would make it necessary to add punishable offenses to the charges of being Christians to justify the torture. It is possible that the charges of incest and cannibalism was used as a cover-up for the religious persecution much the same as later examples of Christian persecution of Jews using the same allegations of cannibalism as a pretext for apprehending their property.
[edit] Memory
- Her feast is celebrated 2 June.
- Two communes in France are named after her. See Sainte-Blandine.
[edit] Reference
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
