St. Ignatius of Antioch on the Power of Distinguishing

Madonna and Child with St Ignatius of Antioch and St Onophrius, Lorenzo Lotto, ARSH 1508, Borghese Gallery, Rome Today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was a student of St. John the Apostle. Not bad. I love how in the image above, Our Lord is reaching toward St. Ignatius and handing to him His Sacred Heart, crowned with thorns, and pierced. When I was reading my way into The Church (and being so scandalized by the Kennedys that I kept delaying my entry), one of the most helpful books I read was called “The Four Witnesses: The Early Church in Her Own Words“, which is a compendium of quotations by the early Church Fathers, namely Ignatius of Antioch (died ARSH 110), Clement of Rome (died ARSH 99, consecrated a bishop by St. Peter), Justin Martyr (died ARSH 165), and Irenaeus of Lyon (student of Polycarp who was a student of John the Apostle, died ARSH 202). If you are genuinely interested in what EXACTLY was going on in the days, weeks and decades after Our Lord’s Passion, …