Attalus of Lyon

Holy Martyr Attalus of Lyon was one of the martyrs of Lyon (Lugdunum) of the year 177, in the time of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. The forty-⁠three Christians of Lyon confessed Christ that same year, and the churches of Lyon and Vienne wrote a letter to the churches of Asia and Phrygia about the courage and steadfast confession of the Christians of Gaul.

Among those named in the letter are Sanctus and Maturus, of Vienne, and Attalus, with Blandina, of Pergamum. They were seized because they were Christians and tortured terribly in various ways: with sharp knives, with red-⁠hot irons, with wild beasts, with scourging and more. In the end the three men were strangled in prison, and their bodies were thrown into fire and then into the river Rhone. The Church honours the martyrs of Lyon as among the first confessors of Gaul.