I'm doing some work on martyrs at the moment. One of the interesting things about such research is meeting new martyrs, especially contemporary ones, and old martyrs, once venerated throughout the Church who have been largely forgotten. The Church has thousands of martyrs, so I suppose anyone interested in learning about them will have a project for life. Our own St Genesius was one of the unknowns for contemporary men and women, though he was well known for many centuries. It is good for us as followers of Christ to rediscover the holy lives and heroism of these martyrs.
One of these forgotten martyrs, but one who had been venerated for centuries in the Church, is a virgin slave woman, St Blandina of Lyons. We first discovered this martyr in our Ecclesiastical History class in seminary. She is one of the martyrs of Lyon and Vienne who died in 177, St Irenaeus, their bishop, among them. One of my classmates was taken with her and began praying to her, and he still has a great devotion to her. When I was studying in Rome I was surprised to discover that her relics exist and have been identified - I made sure I got one for him as an ordination gift. I have no doubt she is looking after him and his priesthood.
Blandina was a slave in a Christian household, and she was herself a faithful Christian. When persecution broke out in Lyons, she and other members of the household, including their mistress, were arrested. Her mistress was martyred with many others. She was very beautiful, but also a strong woman, so when she was sent into the arena, she endured the tortures they threw at her. She was exposed on a cross for animals to eat, but they did not come near her. Later, she and a fifteen year old boy, St Ponticus, were subjected to various tortures, he died, but she survived. She was then thrown to the bulls who tossed her about until she lost awareness of where she was. The crowd were impressed with her endurance, and so it was decided that she be sacrificed to the gods instead, and so she died a victim of human sacrifice. Her relics now lie in a crystal reliquary in the parish church of Condat-Cantal near Clement-Ferrand in the heart of France, quite a distance from her native Lyons.
Images of her tomb:
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