Saint Pothinus

Who they were

At Lyon in France, the holy martyrs Pothinus, bishop, Blandina and forty-six companions, whose hard and repeated trials in the time of the emperor Marcus Aurelius are attested in the letter written by the Church of Lyon to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia. Among them, the ninety-year-old bishop Pothinus gave up his spirit shortly after being imprisoned; others, like him, died in prison, and others still were placed in the middle of the arena before thousands of people gathered for the spectacle: those identified as Roman citizens were beheaded, while the others were thrown to the beasts. Last of all Blandina, finally killed with the sword after suffering longer and harsher tortures, followed all those whom she had shortly before urged to reach the palm of martyrdom.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

The Roman Martyrology remembers him on 2 June as the ninety-year-old bishop of Lyon who died in prison under Marcus Aurelius.