St. surnamed Theophoratus, one of the apostolic fathers of the church, was born in Syria, educated under the apostle and evangelist St John, and intimately acquainted with some other of the apostles, especially St Peter and St Paul. Being fully instructed in the doctrines of Christianity, he was ordained by St John, and confirmed, about the year 67, bishop of Antioch, by these two apostles, who first planted Christianity in that city, where the disciples also were first called Christians. Antioch was then not only the metropolis of Syria, but a city the most renowned of any in the East, and the ancient seat of the Roman emperors, as well as that of the viceroys and governors. In this important see he continued somewhat above forty years, and was both an honour and safeguard to the Christian religion, till the year 107, when Trajan the emperor, flushed with a victory which he had lately obtained over the Scythians and Dacians, about the ninth year of his reign, came to Antioch to make preparations for a war against the Parthians and Armenians. He entered the city with the pomp of a triumph; and as his first care usually was about the affairs of religion, he began presently to inquire into the state of the new faith Christianity had by this time made such progress, that the Romans became jealous and uneasy on account of its advancement. This prince, therefore, had already, in other parts of the empire, commenced a persecution against the Christians, which he now resolved to carry on here. However, as he was naturally of a mild disposition, though he ordered the laws to be put in force against them if convicted, yet he forbade them to be sought after.

In this state of affairs, Ignatius, thinking it more prudent to go himself than wait to be sent for, presented himself to the emperor; and it is said that there passed a long and particular discourse between them, in the course of which the emperor having expressed surprise how he dared to transgress the laws, the bishop took the opportunity to assert his own innocence, and to explain and vindicate his faith and freedom. The issue was, that he was imprisoned, and sentenced to be carried bound by soldiers to Rome, and there thrown as a prey to the wild beasts of the amphitheatre.

He was first conducted to Seleucia, a port of Syria, about sixteen miles distant, where Paul and Barnabas set sail for Cyprus. Having arrived at Smyrna, he paid a visit to Polycarp, bishop of that place, and was himself visited by the clergy of the surrounding country. He also wrote letters to several churches, as the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, and even the Romans, for their instruction and establishment in the faith. He then set sail for Troas, a city of Phrygia, not far from the ruins of old Troy, where, upon his arrival, he was much refreshed with the news he received of the discontinuance of the persecution in Antioch. From Troas he sailed to Neapolis, a maritime town in Macedonia; thence to Philippi, a Roman colony, where the party were entertained with all imaginable kindness, and conducted forwards on their journey through Macedonia and Epirus, till they came to Epidamnum, a city of Dalmatia, where, having again taken shipping, they sailed through the Adriatic, arrived at Rhegium, a port-town in Italy, and directed their course thence through the Tyrrhenian Sea to Puteoli, whence Ignatius desired to proceed by land, ambitious to trace the same way by which St Paul had travelled to Rome. But this wish was not complied with; and, after a stay of twenty-four hours, a prosperous wind quickly carried them to the Roman port, the station of the navy, built near Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, about sixteen miles from Rome.

The Christians at Rome, daily expecting his arrival, came out to meet him, and received him with a mixture of joy and sorrow; but when some of them intimated that possibly the populace might be diverted from desiring his death, he expressed a pious indignation, entreating them to cast no obstacles in his way, nor do any thing that might tend to deprive him of that crown of martyrdom to which he ardently aspired. There are many such expressions as this in his epistle to the Romans, yet it does not appear that he rashly sought or provoked danger. Being conducted to Rome, he was presented to the prefect; and the emperor's letters concerning him were also delivered. The interval before his martyrdom was spent in prayers for the peace and prosperity of the church. That his punishment might be the more public, one of their solemn festivals, the time of the Saturnalia, and that part of it when they celebrated the Sigillaria, was fixed for his execution. Accordingly, on the 20th of December, he was brought out into the amphitheatre, and the lions being let loose, quickly despatched him, leaving nothing but a few of the hardest of his bones. These remains were gathered up by two deacons who had been the companions of his journey; and being transported to Antioch, were interred in the cemetery, without the gate which leads to Daphne.

St Ignatius stands at the head of those Anti-Nicene fathers who occasionally delivered their opinions in defense of the divinity of Christ, whom he calls the Son of God, and his eternal word. He is also reckoned the great champion of the doctrine of the episcopal order, as distinct from and superior to that of priest and deacon; and one, the most important, use of his writings respects the authenticity of the Holy Scriptures, which he frequently alludes to in the very same expressions which we find at this day. Archbishop Usher's edition of his works, printed in 1647, is thought the best; yet there is a more recent edition published at Amsterdam, where, besides the best notes, there are the dissertations of Usher and Pearson.

**St Ignatius's Bean**, the fruit of a plant. See **Ignatia**, Botany.