Germanicus of Smyrna

Saint Germanicus, martyr, was a youth of Smyrna, seized and put to death for his faith in the time of the emperor Antoninus, thrown to the beasts in the arena. He is recalled in the Martyrdom of Polycarp as a model of steadfastness. He is commemorated on 19 January.

As Germanicus stood in the arena before a beast, the proconsul begged him that, in view of his youth, he should renounce the faith to obtain pardon. But the young man would not renounce and willingly accepted martyrdom, being praised for the courage with which he faced the beasts.

The Martyrdom of Polycarp says that the devil devised many things against the Christians, but, thanks to God, could not prevail everywhere. The noble Germanicus strengthened the timidity of others by his own patience and fought bravely with the beasts. When the proconsul sought to persuade him and urged him to take pity on his age, he drew the beast toward himself and provoked it, wishing to escape all the sooner from an unjust and lawless world. Then the whole crowd, marveling at the nobility of soul shown by the pious and God-⁠loving race of Christians, cried out that the enemies of the gods be taken away and that Polycarp be sought.