Saint Irenaeus

Irenaeus was born around 130 in Smyrna, in Asia Minor, where as a boy he listened to Bishop Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John. He went to Gaul and became a priest in Lyon. In 177, during a fierce persecution, he carried a letter from the Church of Lyon to Pope Eleutherius in Rome. When he returned, Bishop Pothinus and many Christians had been martyred, and Irenaeus was chosen to succeed him.

His great work, Against Heresies, refuted the Gnostics, who claimed secret knowledge and despised the material world. Irenaeus pointed to the Scriptures and to the unbroken succession of bishops from the apostles, especially in Rome, as the guarantee of true teaching. He also urged Pope Victor to keep peace with the Churches of Asia over the date of Easter. He died around 202, by tradition a martyr. Pope Francis declared him a Doctor of the Church in 2022, with the title Doctor of Unity.

Irenaeus is honored especially in Lyon, where the church of Saint-Irénée stands over the crypt where he was buried. His famous words, The glory of God is man fully alive, are often quoted in homilies and catechesis.

His feast, on the eve of Saints Peter and Paul, is a good day to pray for unity between Christians of East and West.