Saint of the Day – 2 June – Saint Photinus of Lyons (c87-177) & Companions the First Bishop of Lyons, Martyr . Name means: the sweet one / the lovely one (Greek). Patronages – of the Archdiocese of Lyons and of the City of Lyons. Also known as – Pothin, Pothinus, Potino, Potinus.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Lyons, many holy Martyrs (Photinus, the Bishop, Sanctus, the Deacond, Vetius, Epagathus, Maturus, Pontictus, Biblis, Attalus, Alexander and Blandina, with many others, whose many valiant combats in the time of Marcus Aurelius are recorded in a letter from the Church at Lyons to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia. …”
According to St Irenaeus, Photinus was born around the year 87, probably at Smyrna. He was a disciple of St Polycarp, the Apostolic Father and Martyr Bishop of Smyrna and accompanied him to Rome in 158.
St Pope Anicletus sent him to evangelise the Gauls. Photinus established himself at Lyons and founded there a flourishing Church, over which he presided for almost twenty years. In asserting his own authority as bishop of Lyons, St Irenaeus says that Pothinus had been his predecessor in the position and the first Bishop of that City.
By 177, a large number of the Christians in the area of Vienne and Lyons were Greeks from Asia. A violent persecution began against them while Photinus was the Bishop of Lyons and St Irenæus, who had been sent there by St Polycarp, was a Priest of that City.
Photinus died at the age of ninety, in 177, Martyred along with Alexander, Attalus, Espagathus, Maturus and Sanctius, during the tenure of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Pothinus and several companions were seized by a mob and taken to the magistrate. Pothinus is believed to have died from the abuse he suffered in prison, while the others were killed by wild beasts in the local amphitheatre.
St Eusebius of Caesarea also reports on the number and nature of the battles for the Faith in Gaul. The Martyrology of St Jerome reports a total of 48 Martyrs.
AnaStpaul 