Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Christian Gaul |←Franz Christian
Gau||Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Volume 6 |Giovanni Battista
Gaulli→| The Church of Gaul first appeared in history in
connexion with the persecution at Lyons under Marcus Aurelius
(177). The pagan inhabitants rose up against the Christians, and
forty-eight martyrs suffered death under various tortures. Among
them there were children like the slave Blandina and Ponticus, a
youth of fifteen. Every rank of life had members among the first
martyrs of the Church of Gaul: the aristocracy were represented
by Vettius Epagathus; the professional class by Attalus of
Pergamus, a physician; a neophyte Maturus, died beside Pothinus,
Bishop of Lyons, and Sanctus, deacon of Vienne. The Christians
of Lyons and Vienne in a letter to their brethren of Smyrna give
an account of this persecution, and the letter preserved by
Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., V, i-iv), is one the gems of Christian
literature. In this document the Church of Lyons seems to be the
only church organ