The Church today venerates the memory of Ignatius the God-Bearer, or Theophorus, the second Bishop of Antioch.
A disciple of St. John the Theologian, and a successor of the Apostles, St. Ignatius wrote many epistles to the faithful, strengthening them in their confession and preserving for us the teachings of the holy Apostles. Brought to Rome under the Emperor Trajan, he was surrendered to lions to be executed, and so finished the course of martyrdom in roughly the year 107.