Friday 17 October 2025
Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop, Martyr
on Friday of week 28 in Ordinary Time
About Today
Year: C(I). Psalm week: 4. Liturgical Colour: Red.
St Ignatius of Antioch (- 107)
— Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch, Pierleone Ghezzi, 1700-1720, fresco, Basilica of San Clemente, Rome.
He was the third bishop of Antioch, the first being St Peter until he moved to Rome, and the second being Evodius. He was arrested (some writers believe that he must have been denounced by a fellow-Christian), condemned to death, and transported to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. In one of his letters he describes the soldiers who were escorting him as being like “ten leopards, who when they are kindly treated only behave worse.”
In the course of his journey he wrote seven letters to various churches, in which he dealt wisely and deeply with Christ, the organisation of the Church, and the Christian life. They are important documents for the early history of the Church, and they also reveal a deeply holy man who accepts his fate and begs the Christians in Rome not to try to deprive him of the crown of martyrdom.
He was martyred in 107 and his feast was already being celebrated on this day in fourth-century Antioch.
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Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
who adorn the sacred body of your Church
with the confessions of holy Martyrs,
grant, we pray,
that, just as the glorious passion of Saint Ignatius of Antioch,
which we celebrate today,
brought him eternal splendour,
so it may be for us unending protection.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
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Liturgical colour: red
Red is the colour of fire and of blood. Liturgically, it is used to celebrate the fire of the Holy Spirit (for instance, at Pentecost) and the blood of the martyrs.