: Religion:

Catholic is a Greek term meaning universal and was first used to describe the Church by the second Bishop of Antioch: St. Ignatius, who was was probably a convert of St. John the Apostle. Igatius served as Bishop from about 60 AD to about107 AD. Christianity is a term coined by lay Catholics in the same diocese of Antioch, the first large center of Christians in the Middle Ease, during the same time period.

Under Emperor Trajan, around 107 AD, St. Ignatius of Antioch was arrested for not offering patriotic sacrifice to the Roman gods.  The judge condemned him to be thrown to the wild beasts in the public games in Rome.  The bishop was taken aboard a Rome-bound ship.  En route he was under heavy guard by ten soldiers who were so brutal that he called them his ten leopards. He was given freedom at ports-of-call in Asia Minor to receive the local bishops and faithful.  He wrote to these Christian groups seven letters exhorting all to be strong in faith and love.  He also wrote ahead to the Christians of Rome.  He suspected that they might try to have his death sentence commuted.  This he did not desire.  Martyrdom, he believed, was the only way in which he could prove to God his total devotion.  "Suffer me to be the food of wild beasts," he said, "through whom I may attain to God!"

His desire was not thwarted.  Ground by the teeth of the animals, he became, as he had hoped to be, the "pure bread of Christ!"  His martyrdom may have taken place in Rome's famous "Colosseum," then a fairly new stadium.  Afterwards his relics were carried back reverently to Antioch.

Ignatius' seven letters are among the few non-biblical Christian writings of the apostolic period.  (St. John the Apostle was still alive when they were written.)  They, therefore, bear important witness to the earliest Christian belief and practices.  Thus the Bishop of Antioch becomes the first to emphasize Mary's virginity; to declare the holy Trinity; and to present Jesus as both son of God and son of Mary.  He also defends the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.