Sanctus of Lyon

Holy Hieromartyr Sanctus of Lyon, a deacon of Vienne, was one of the forty-⁠three Christians martyred at Lyon (Lugdunum), in Gaul, in the year 177, in the time of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.

The letter of the Churches of Lyon and Vienne to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia, preserved by Eusebius of Caesarea and attributed to St Irenaeus, is the first written witness to Christianity in present-⁠day France and the main source for these martyrs. It tells that the pagans did not let Christians into houses, baths or the market, and the mob beat them in the streets; the Christians were taken to the square, questioned before the people and shut in prison until the governor arrived. Some were ready for martyrdom, others feared it, and among the fearful false witnesses appeared, who stirred up the anger of the people.

The anger of the crowd, of the governor and of the soldiers fell with particular force on Sanctus, a deacon of Vienne, on Maturus, recently baptized but already a brave soldier of Christ, on Attalus of Pergamon, always a support for the Christians of Lyon, and on the young slave Blandina. Tortured cruelly, their bodies had become one open wound, but their confession remained unshaken. Their hour came in the amphitheatre, to the mockery of the pagans. Maturus and Sanctus went through every torment: pierced with rods, torn by beasts, set on red-⁠hot iron chairs, from which the roasting flesh gave off a terrible smoke. Nothing shook their resolve, and Sanctus went on confessing: I am a Christian. At the end of the spectacle the Christians' throats were cut.

With them are honoured also St Pothinus, bishop of Lyon, St Ponticus, St Blandina and the others. The martyrs of Lyon did not call themselves martyrs, but confessors, because the true martyrs are Christ and those before them; they prayed for their tormentors, like the first martyr Stephen, and for those who had denied.

St Sanctus is commemorated on 7 August, in the new style.