Blandina
2nd century Gallic Christian martyr
Feast: 2 June (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Blandina, a slave, was among the martyrs of Lyons under Marcus Aurelius in 177, whose story the Church of Lyons sent to the Churches of Asia Minor. Her companions feared her frail body would not hold out, but she endured horrible torture and remained steadfast.
The last of the martyrs to die, she was scourged, placed on a red-hot grate, wrapped in a net and thrown to a wild bull, and finally killed with a dagger.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: she has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
A slave girl whose courage under torture outlasted all her companions.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Blandina
- Wikidata Q455195 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Blandina (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.