Saint Blandina

Life story

Almost all we know about Blandina is in the letter of the churches of Lyon and Vienne to the churches of Asia Minor, quoted by Eusebius in book 5 of his Ecclesiastical History. She was a slave, described in the letter as small and weak.

She was arrested in the persecution at Lugdunum in 177, under the emperor Marcus Aurelius; her mistress, also a Christian, was among the martyrs. The letter says that however long she was tortured, she kept repeating: I am a Christian, and we do nothing wrong.

She was tied to a post in the arena for the wild beasts, scourged, put to other tortures, enclosed in a net and thrown to a bull, and finally killed. The letter also names Ponticus, a boy of about fifteen and the youngest of the martyrs, whom she is said to have encouraged. The letter itself reports that, on the first occasion, the beasts would not touch her.

Because the main source is a single letter transmitted by Eusebius, the details are hard to check further. Historians also debate how far Marcus Aurelius directed or knew of these persecutions. Her feast is 2 June.

Works and witness

• Slave arrested in the persecution at Lugdunum in 177
• Suffered many tortures and kept declaring herself a Christian
• Encouraged the boy Ponticus, martyred with her
• Recorded in the letter of the churches of Lyon and Vienne

Saints from the same country

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Louis IX of France, Saint Joan of Arc, Saint Francis de Sales

References

• Letter of the churches of Lyons and Vienne, in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.1 (newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.