Ignace d'Antioche, évêque et martyr

Biographie

C'est pourquoi il a dû être appelé comme évêque au siège d'Antioche, que saint Pierre lui-même avait présidé. If we know little about the life of this great martyr of Jesus Christ until his pilgrimage from Antioch to Rome, we do know seven beautiful letters that more than make up for the lack of information about his youth and youth until he became the Bishop of Antioch, a position he held for forty years. Saint Ignace ne se contentait pas de la parole, mais la cimentait avec des lettres qu'il dictait très rapidement. Il a exhorté les communautés à persévérer dans l'union du culte divin et de la doctrine catholique. Les gages de cette union sont l'Eucharistie et le lien avec l'Évêque de Rome. C'est pour cette raison que saint Ignace exigeait l'obéissance à l'Église romaine, puisque c'est elle qui est désignée pour présider « l'union d'amour ». Ignace aspirait à la mort des martyrs. Because he was a Christian and defender of Christians, he was condemned to be devoured by wild beasts in the capital of the empire, so that he could serve as a lesson to all other Christians. Il avait soixante-dix ans lorsqu'il fut condamné à être jeté aux bêtes dans l'amphithéâtre Flavien de Rome. He suffered a lot from the arbitrariness of the guards, since in his letters he compares the soldiers to "ten leopards that the more you try to appease them, the more ferocious they become." The Acts of his Martyrdom say that that blessed Antioch that had been ruled by Peter and Paul and sanctified with the preaching of Barnabas, was now governed wisely and holyly by its Bishop Ignatius. "At the time of his arrest," the Acts say, "he fastened his chains and, having prayed for the Church and entrusted it to the Lord, like a ram, leader of a beautiful flock, he was carried away by the barbaric fury of the soldiers, to be taken to Rome, to be food for the bloodthirsty beasts," and shortly before dying, he said: "I want to be wheat in the teeth of the wild beasts to become the bread of Jesus Christ. Do not prevent me if c'est que tu m'aimes." Il mourut pour le Christ au Colisée romain en l'an 107.