(St. Mark
ix. 36, 37)? Was he not the 'God-bearer' [Greek: theophoros] on the
fragments of whose heart according to Western tradition, was found
stamped in golden letters the name of Jesus Christ? Whether he were a
slave or not must remain uncertain. It is a more probable deduction from
his own language that he--the 'untimely birth,'[66]--the 'one born out
of due time' and 'the last' of the faithful, had been rescued from a
pagan life, such as Antioch on the Orontes, the home of panders and
dancing girls, and 'Daphnici mores' would have applauded.

'His,' says Bishop Lightfoot, 'was one of those "broken"
natures out of which God's heroes are made. If not a
persecutor of Christ, if not a foe to Christ, as seems
probable, he had at least been for a considerable portion of
his life an alien from Christ. Like St. Paul, like
Augustine, like Francis Xavier, like Luther, like John
Bunyan, he could not forget that his had been a dislocated
life; and the memory of the catastrophe, which had shattered
his former self, filled him with awe and thanksgiving, and
fanned the fervour of his devotion to a white heat.

There is no chronological inconsistency in supposing that Ignatius was a
disciple of some Apostle, if nothing can be affirmed as to the date of
his accession to the ministry or episcopate. On the supposition that he
was martyred, as an old man, about A. D. 110, his birth may be placed
about A. D. 40. When 25 years of age, or in A. D. 65, companionship
would still have been opened to him with St. Peter and St. Paul; or, if
his teacher were St. John, his conversion may be brought to A. D. 90,
when he would be about 50 years of age. Confessedly all this is
conjectural or traditional, as are also any details of episcopal
administration.' A 'pitchy darkness' envelopes the life and work of
Ignatius, till it is 'at length illumined by a vivid but transient flash
of light.' The story of Ignatius begins and ends with the story of his
death. 'If his martyrdom had not rescued him from obscurity, he would
have remained like his predecessor Euodius, a mere name.' His martyrdom
has made him a distinct and living personality, a true father of the
Church, a teacher and example to all time.'

Thrilling though the narrative of this martyrdom must ever be, the
barest outline only can be given here. The Martyrologies, if they are to
be set aside as not containing authentic history, will fas