Universalis
Friday 17 October 2025    (other days)
Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop, Martyr 
 on Friday of week 28 in Ordinary Time

Using calendar: Australia - Perth. You can change this.

The Lord is the king of martyrs: come, let us adore him.

Year: C(I). Psalm week: 4. Liturgical Colour: Red.

St Ignatius of Antioch (- 107)

He was the third bishop of Antioch, the first being St Peter until he moved to Rome, and the second being Evodius. He was arrested (some writers believe that he must have been denounced by a fellow-Christian), condemned to death, and transported to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. In one of his letters he describes the soldiers who were escorting him as being like “ten leopards, who when they are kindly treated only behave worse.”
  In the course of his journey he wrote seven letters to various churches, in which he dealt wisely and deeply with Christ, the organisation of the Church, and the Christian life. They are important documents for the early history of the Church, and they also reveal a deeply holy man who accepts his fate and begs the Christians in Rome not to try to deprive him of the crown of martyrdom.
  He was martyred in 107 and his feast was already being celebrated on this day in fourth-century Antioch.
  See the articles in Wikipedia and the Catholic Encyclopaedia.

Liturgical colour: red

Red is the colour of fire and of blood. Liturgically, it is used to celebrate the fire of the Holy Spirit (for instance, at Pentecost) and the blood of the martyrs.

Mid-morning reading (Terce)Romans 12:17,19-20,21
Never repay evil with evil. As scripture says: Vengeance is mine – I will pay them back, says the Lord. But there is more: If your enemy is hungry, you should give him food, and if he is thirsty, let him drink. Resist evil and conquer it with good.

Noon reading (Sext)1 John 3:16
This has taught us love – that he gave up his life for us; and we, too, ought to give up our lives for our brothers.

Afternoon reading (None)1 John 4:9-11
God’s love for us was revealed when God sent into the world his only Son so that we could have life through him; this is the love I mean: not our love for God, but God’s love for us when he sent his Son to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away. My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another.

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