Ten Christian martyrs:
- Ignatius of Antioch (eaten by lions in the Flavian Amphitheatre for promoting Christianity throughout the Roman empire)
- Romanus of Caesarea (tortured and strangled for beng deacon of the Christian church at Antioch)
- Mary Dyer (hanged in Boston for being a Quaker)
- Saint Apollonia (burned to death for refusing to repeat impious words)
- George Wishart (burned at the stake for denouncing the Papacy)
- James Hannington (stabbed to death with spears for preaching Christianity to Ugandan natives)
- Saint Quiricus (thrown down a flight of stairs, or beheaded, for testifying to his faith before the governor of Tarsus)
- St. Jean de Brébeuf (tortured, mutilated, and burned to death for preaching Christianity to the Hurons)
- Máel Ruba (killed by Vikings while performing missionary work in the Scottish Highlands)
- Robert Southwell (hanged at Tyburn for practicing Catholicism in Protestant England)
Today is the Roman Catholic Feast day of St. Ignatius of Antioch. Being eaten by lions strikes me as a rather unpleasant way to die, though of course I understand (from both The Colbert Report and The Gashleycrumb Tinies) that bears are the real threat.
