Blandina

The holy martyr Blandina was a Christian slave woman of Lugdunum, today Lyon, killed for the faith in 177, in the time of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. She is commemorated on 2 June, with the martyrs of Lyon, and on 25 July, with the forty-⁠three martyrs of Lyon.

Her witness

Most of what is known of Blandina comes from a letter of the Church of Lyon to the Churches of Asia Minor, preserved by Eusebius in the Ecclesiastical History. In Lyon the pagan crowd was stirred up against the Christians, who were harassed when they showed themselves in public. While the governor was away, the commander of the troops and a magistrate of the city threw into prison several Christians who confessed the faith. When the governor returned, they were brought to trial. Among them was Blandina, a slave, taken with her mistress, also a Christian. Her companions feared that, because of her frail body, she would not hold out under torture. But though the governor put her to terrible torments, until even the executioners were exhausted, not knowing what more to do to her, she remained faithful and answered every question, “I am a Christian, and we do nothing wrong.”

Torments and death

Out of fear of torture, slaves testified against their masters, inventing that the Christians eat human flesh and commit shameful acts when they gather. The governor reported to the emperor and received an order that Roman citizens who persisted in the faith be beheaded, and the others tortured. Blandina was tortured again, with others, in the amphitheater, at the time of the games. Among them was Ponticus, a boy of fifteen, the youngest of the martyrs, whom Blandina encouraged to remain in faith in Christ. She was bound to a stake, in the form of a cross, and wild beasts were set upon her. While she was bound, Blandina prayed fervently for her companions and for those who tormented her. It is told that the beasts did not touch her, and she was taken back to prison. For many more days she was brought into the arena to see the sufferings of the others, so that she might renounce the faith. In the end, the last of the martyrs, she was scourged, placed on a red-⁠hot grate, enclosed in a net and thrown before a wild bull, which tossed her into the air with its horns. She was finished with a dagger. The bodies of the martyrs were left six days in mockery, then burned, and the ashes thrown into the Rhône.

Her significance

Of all the martyrs of Lyon, Blandina is the only woman to whom attention is given throughout the narrative. She is shown as a mother, who sends her spiritual children to martyrdom before she dies, and as an athlete of Christ, though she was frail and of humble birth.