[Rank]
S. Ignatii Episcopi Martyris;;Duplex;;3;;vide C2

[Rank1570]
S. Ignatii Episcopi et Martyris;;Semiduplex;;2;;vide C2

[Rule]
vide C2;
9 lectiones

[Oratio]
Mercifully consider our weakness, O Almighty God, and whereas by the burden of our sins we are sore let Ignatius your Martyr be mercifully pleased to deliver us from all things which may hurt our bodies, and from all evil thoughts which may defile our souls
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
!From the book of saint Jerome Presbyter on the Ecclesiastical writers.
Ignatius was the third Bishop of Antioch after the Apostle Peter. When Trajan stirred up his persecution, he was condemned to be devoured by wild beasts, and sent to Rome in chains. When on his journey thither he arrived at Smyrna, where Polycarp, the disciple of John, was Bishop, he wrote an Epistle to the Ephesians, another to the Magnesians, a third to the Trallians, and a fourth to the Romans and after leaving Smyrna, he addressed a further Epistle to the Philadelphians, and another to the Smyrnians, along with a private Epistle to Polycarp, to whose care he commended the Church of Antioch. In this last he quoteth a passage regarding the Person of Christ from the Gospel, which I have recently translated.

[Lectio5]
It is fitting that, as we have made mention of a man of so much importance, we should also note briefly the Epistle which he addressed to the Romans. I am on my way, saith he, from Syria to Rome, and am already fighting with beasts on sea and on land all the way. I may say I am chained day and night to ten leopards, for indeed the soldiers, who have charge of me, are no better. The more courteous I am to them, the worse they use me. But still their wickedness is good schooling for me, though I know that my mere sufferings cannot in themselves gain me justification. I earnestly wish for the beasts which are to devour me; at any rate, I pray they may put me out of pain quickly, and fly on me willingly, that I be not like some other Martyrs, whose bodies the animals have refused to touch. If I find that they will not come on, I will run at them as quick as I can, to make them devour me. Let me be, my little children I know what is good for me.

[Lectio6]
I feel now that I am beginning to be Christ's disciple; I desire none of those things which are seen, if so be I may find Christ Jesus. I care not that there come upon me fire, or cross, or wild beasts, or breaking of my bones, or sundering of my members, or destruction of my whole body, yea, or all the torments of the devil, if only so be I may win Christ. When he was brought condemned to the theatre, and heard the roaring of the beasts which were to devour him, he felt so strong an eagerness to suffer, that he cried out I am Christ's wheat, and so let the beasts' teeth be my mill, that I may be ground, and be found to make good bread. He suffered in the eleventh year of Trajan. What was left of his body lieth at Antioch, in the graveyard outside the gate which leadeth toward Daphne.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to John
!John 12:24-26
In that time Jesus said to his disciples: Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, Itself remaineth alone. And so on.
_
Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop (of Hippo.)
!Tract 51 on John.
The Lord Jesus was Himself a corn of wheat that was to die and bring forth much fruit; to die by the unbelief of the Jews, and to bring forth much fruit in the faith of the Gentiles. He, exhorting men to follow His steps, saith He that loveth his life shall lose it. Now, these words may be understood in two ways. First: he that loveth his life shall lose it, that is, If thou love life, thou wilt lose it; if thou wilt live for ever in Christ, refuse not to die for Christ. Or secondly: he that loveth his life shall lose it; love not then that which thou shalt lose; love not this present life, so that thou be thereby in jeopardy of losing life eternal.

[Lectio8]
What this second interpretation is the meaning of the Gospel, appeareth most probably from the words which follow And he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal. From which we may suppose the sense of the first words to be He that loveth his life in this world shall lose it unto life eternal. This is a great and marvellous saying, showing how a man may so love life as to lose life, and so hate life as to keep life. If thou love it too well, then dost thou hate it if thou hate it with an holy hatred, then dost thou love it. Blessed are they that, lest they should so love it as to lose it, so hate it as to keep it.

[Lectio9]
Beware lest thou take these words He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal as some do, for an approval of suicide. Some evil and perverse men, bloody and guilty murderers of themselves, do indeed throw themselves into the fire, drown themselves in water, and cast themselves down precipices, and so perish. This is not the teaching of Christ, Who, when the devil would have Him cast Himself down from an high place, answered Get thee behind Me, Satan. It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. (Matth. iv. 5-7.) Who also said to Peter, signifying by what death he should glorify God When thou wast young thougirdedst thyself and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. (John xxi. 18.) From which it is evident that he that would follow Christ's footsteps, must be slain, not by himself, but by another.
&teDeum

[Lectio94]
Ignatius, chosen to be the second successor of Peter as bishop of Antioch, was accused of being a Christian during Trajan's reign and condemned to be sent to the beasts in Rome. As he was being brought from Syria in chains, he kept teaching all the cities of Asia which he went through, exhorting them as a messenger of the Gospel and instructing the more distant ones by his letters. In one of these letters, which he wrote to the Romans from Smyrna while he was enjoying Polycarp's companionship, among other matters he said this about his own death sentence: "O helpful beasts that are being made ready for me! when will they come? When will they be sent out? When will they be allowed to devour my flesh And I hope that they will be made the more fierce, lest by chance, as has happened in the case of others, they may fear to touch my body. Now I am beginning to be Christ's disciple. Let fire, crosses, beasts, the tearing apart of my limbs, the torment of my whole body and all the sufferings prepared by the devil's art be heaped upon me all at once, if only I may attain Jesus Christ. When he had arrived in Rome, he heard the lions roaring and, burning with desire for martyrdom, he burst out, "I am the wheat of Christ; let me be ground by the teeth of the beasts so that I may be found pure bread." He suffered in the eleventh year of Trajan's reign.
&teDeum