Bishop and Martyr · Feast day October 17
St. Ignatius of Antioch
The feast day of St. Ignatius of Antioch is October 17, a memorial in the US Catholic calendar. Below: a short life and 4 sourced quotations in their own words.
| Feast day | October 17 |
|---|---|
| In the US calendar | Memorial |
| Title | Bishop and Martyr |
| Died | c. 108 |
| In their own words | 4 sourced quotations |
| Next on Bless’s Today screen | None left in the published calendar (through December 31, 2028) |
Life
Bishop of Antioch in the generation after the apostles, arrested and marched across Asia Minor to be killed at Rome. Along the road he wrote seven letters to the churches that remain among the most precious documents of early Christianity.
He begged the Roman Christians not to save him from the beasts: he was God’s wheat, to be ground by their teeth into the pure bread of Christ.
In their own words
Each quotation names the work it comes from. Bless quotes these in the comments beside the verses listed under In Scripture.
I am the wheat of God, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ.
Breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, the antidote against death, that we should live forever in Jesus Christ.
Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.
My Love has been crucified, and there is no fire in me desiring to be fed; but there is within me a water that lives and speaks, saying to me inwardly, Come to the Father.
In Scripture
In Bless, St. Ignatius of Antioch’s words appear in the comments beside these verses. This page’s labels say how each is linked: “on this verse” means the saint wrote about that very verse; “on this theme” means the quotation shares its theme. Scripture is quoted from the Catholic Public Domain Version.
On this theme
For wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I, in their midst.”
Matthew 18:20 · CPDV Beside their words: “Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”
On this theme
Instead, the water that I will give to him will become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life.”
John 4:14 · CPDV Beside their words: “My Love has been crucified, and there is no fire in me desiring to be fed; but there is…”
On this theme
I am the living bread, who descended from heaven.
John 6:51 · CPDV Beside their words: “Breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, the antidote against death…”
On this theme
Amen, amen, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
John 12:24 · CPDV Beside their words: “I am the wheat of God, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be…”
On this theme
The cup of benediction that we bless, is it not a communion in the Blood of Christ? And the bread that we break, is it not a participation in the Body of the Lord?
1 Corinthians 10:16 · CPDV Beside their words: “Breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, the antidote against death…”
On this theme
I live; yet now, it is not I, but truly Christ, who lives in me. And though I live now in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and who delivered himself for me.
Galatians 2:20 · CPDV Beside their words: “My Love has been crucified, and there is no fire in me desiring to be fed; but there is…”
On this theme
And he has subjected all things under his feet, and he has made him the head over the entire Church, which is his body and which is the fullness of him who accomplishes everything in everyone.
Ephesians 1:22–23 · CPDV Beside their words: “Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”
On this theme
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Philippians 1:21 · CPDV Beside their words: “I am the wheat of God, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be…”
In the calendar
The upcoming dates, through December 31, 2028, when Bless’s Today screen shows St. Ignatius of Antioch. Where the US calendar keeps another celebration that day, it is named instead and no rank is given.
Readings
No dates are left in Bless’s published calendar, which runs through December 31, 2028. St. Ignatius of Antioch keeps October 17 in Bless’s calendar of saints: see the saints of October.
All the saints of October Born on October 17? A saint for every day
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