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Saint IrenaeusSaint Irenaeus
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Irenaeus writings give him an honored place among the Fathers of the Church. His writings are at the foundation of Christian theology. They refuted the errors of the Gnostics, and kept the youthful Catholic faith from the danger of corruption by the subtle, pessimistic doctrines of these philosophers.
Irenaeus was born, about the year 125, in one of the maritime provinces of Asia Minor at time when the memory of the Apostles was still cherished. Christians were numerous. He had a liberal education which included a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, Greek philosophy and literature. Irenaeus had also knew men who knew the Apostles. St. Polycarp, the venerable bishop of Smyrna, made the deepest impression on Irenaeus. All through his life he told how he could recall every detail of Polycarp's appearance, his voice, and the very words he used when telling what he had heard from John the Evangelist and others who had seen Jesus.
From early times commerce had been brisk between the ports of Asia Minor and the city of Marseilles, at the mouth of the Rhone River. In the second century of the Christian era Levantine traders were conveying their wares up the river as far as Lyons, the most populous city of Gaul and an important mart for all Western Europe. In the train of these Asiatic merchants, many of whom settled in Lyons, came Christian missionaries, who brought the Gospel to the pagan Gauls and founded a vigorous church. Here Irenaeus was sent to serve as priest under the bishop, Pothinus.
The high regard which Irenaeus earned for himself at Lyons was shown in the year 177, when he was chosen to go on a serious mission to Rome. He was the bearer of a letter to Pope Eleutherius, urging him to deal firmly with the Montanist[2] faction in faraway Phrygia, for heresy was now rampant in the East. This mission explains how it was that Irenaeus did not share in the martyrdom of his fellow Christians. A persecution broke out, and some of the leaders of the Lyons church were imprisoned; a few suffered martyrdom. This was in the reign of the philosophical pagan emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Since Lyons was a vital outpost of imperial power, adorned with temples and fine public buildings, the Roman officials perhaps thought it necessary to keep the new religion in check here. When Irenaeus returned from Rome it was to fill the now vacant bishopric. The brief period of persecution was over, and the twenty or more years of his episcopate were fairly peaceful. In addition to his pastoral duties at Lyons, Irenaeus is said to have extended the sphere of Christian influence by sending missionaries to other towns of Gaul-SS. Felix, Fortunatus, and Achilleus to Valence, and SS. Ferrutius and Ferreolus to Besancon. The bishop spoke habitually in the native tongue, not Latin or Greek, and encouraged all priests to do likewise.
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