Lyon Fourvière and the Martyrs of Lyon

Roman Lyon, Lugdunum, was the capital of the province of Gallia Lugdunensis and was called Caput Galliae, the capital of the Gauls. Its first bishop, Pothinus, was sent to Gaul, according to tradition, by Saint Polycarp of Smyrna. In 177, under the emperor Marcus Aurelius, the Christians of Lyon and Vienne were arrested, tortured and put to death. Tradition counts forty-eight martyrs, about half of them of Greek origin and half Gallo-Roman.

Pothinus, over ninety years old, died in prison. A deacon of Vienne was among the martyrs, and so was a young slave, Saint Blandina, who stood firm to the end and died in the amphitheater. The survivors wrote an account of their passion to the churches of Asia and Phrygia, and Eusebius of Caesarea preserved it in his history of the Church.

The feast of the martyrs is June 2. An old tradition placed their death at Ainay, where a church was raised in their memory. Today the amphitheater of the Three Gauls, on the slope of the Croix-Rousse, is honored as the place of their martyrdom, and Pope John Paul II held an ecumenical meeting there on October 4, 1986.

Saint Irenaeus, a disciple of Saint Polycarp, who had known the apostle John, succeeded Pothinus as bishop after the persecution. In Lyon he wrote Against Heresies, in which he defended the faith received from the apostles against the Gnostic teachers of his time. Local traditions say that he sent missionaries through Gaul, and Gregory of Tours is the first writer to call him a martyr. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Bishop Patiens built a crypt for his remains at the end of the fifth century, beneath what is now the church of Saint-Irénée. On January 21, 2022, Pope Francis declared him a Doctor of the Church with the title Doctor of Unity; he is the first Doctor honored as a martyr. His feast is June 28.

His successors bear the title of Primate of the Gauls. In a bull of April 20, 1079, Pope Gregory VII confirmed the primacy of Lyon over the provinces of Rouen, Tours and Sens. The primatial church is the Gothic cathedral of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, on the bank of the Saône at the foot of Fourvière, first dedicated to Saint Stephen. Two general councils met at Lyon in the thirteenth century, under Innocent IV and Gregory X, and the second, in 1274, sought to reconcile the Churches of East and West. John Paul II met the sick in the cathedral on October 5, 1986. The present archbishop, Olivier de Germay, was installed in 2020.

A shrine of Our Lady has stood on the hill of Fourvière, above the old town, since 1170. On September 8, 1643, during an epidemic of plague, the aldermen of Lyon vowed to honor the Virgin if the city was spared, and their vow is renewed at Fourvière each September 8. The city also credited her with sparing it from cholera in 1832.

In 1852 the bell tower of the old chapel was replaced by a tower carrying a gilded statue of the Virgin by Joseph-Hugues Fabisch. The inauguration was planned for September 8, but a flood of the Saône delayed the statue, and the date was moved to December 8. A storm that morning led the organizers to postpone the ceremony. When the sky cleared, the people of Lyon put lights in their windows and went into the streets singing in honor of Mary, and they did the same in the years that followed. Many families still burn candles in small glass holders, the lumignons, on their window sills on December 8, and a procession climbs to the basilica. The city’s Festival of Lights, with its light shows, usually lasts four days around the 8th and draws great crowds, so groups should book rooms long in advance.

In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, the Catholics of Lyon vowed to build a new church if the city was spared. Paid for by private gifts and built beside the old chapel, the basilica was begun in 1872. Its structure was finished in 1884, it was inaugurated in 1896, and its interior decoration was completed in 1964. Its architect, Pierre Bossan, had earlier designed the basilica of Ars. It holds two churches, one above the other: an upper church rich in mosaics and stained glass, and a plainer lower church with the crypt of Saint Joseph. About two million people visit each year.

Blessed Pauline Jaricot was born in Lyon on July 22, 1799, the youngest of seven children of a silk manufacturer. On Christmas Day 1816 she made a vow of perpetual virginity and began a life of intense prayer. Among the women who worked in the silk factory of her sister and brother-in-law, she organized groups whose members each gave a penny a week for the missions. From this work grew the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, founded in Lyon in 1822. Pope Pius XI declared it pontifical on May 3, 1922, and it is today one of the Pontifical Mission Societies.

In 1826 she founded the Association of the Living Rosary, which Pope Gregory XVI approved in 1832. Around 1845 she bought an ironworks that she meant as a model of Christian social reform. The men she left in charge proved dishonest, the venture failed, and she lived her last years in poverty. She died in Lyon on January 9, 1862. Pope John XXIII declared her venerable, and Pope Francis recognized a miracle attributed to her on May 26, 2020. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle beatified her in the pope’s name at Eurexpo in Lyon on May 22, 2022. Her remains have rested in the church of Saint-Nizier since 1935, and her feast is January 9.

Blessed Antoine Chevrier, ordained on May 25, 1850, was sent as assistant priest to Saint-André in the Guillotière district. He helped rescue victims of the flood of May 31, 1856, and on Christmas Eve that year, praying before the crib, he resolved to follow Christ in poverty among the poor. On December 10, 1860, he took over a former dance hall, the Prado, as a chapel and a shelter where poor children could receive a Christian education. From his work came the Priests of the Prado and the Sisters of the Prado. He died on October 2, 1879. Pope John Paul II beatified him in Lyon on October 4, 1986, and visited the Prado three days later.

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam was born in Milan in 1813 and grew up in Lyon, where he studied at the Collège de Lyon and where one of its teachers, the priest Joseph-Mathias Noirot, helped him through a time of doubt. In the fall of 1831 he left to study law in Paris, and in 1833 he and other students founded the Conference of Charity from which the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul grew. He kept close ties to Lyon. He was admitted to the bar there in 1837, taught commercial law there from about 1840, and in June 1841 married Amélie Soulacroix, daughter of the rector of the University of Lyon. He also helped organize the Propagation of the Faith and wrote for it. He died in Marseille on September 8, 1853, and is buried in Paris.

Give Lyon one full day, or two at a gentler pace. Take the funicular from the Vieux Lyon station up to Fourvière and begin with Mass in the basilica or in the old chapel of the Virgin beside it. From the hilltop, walk a short way southwest to the church of Saint-Irénée and the crypt of Irenaeus. On the slope of Fourvière is the Maison de Lorette, Pauline Jaricot’s house; groups should arrange a visit in advance. Then go down the hill by the paths of the Rosary garden to the cathedral of Saint-Jean in the old town.

After lunch, cross the Saône to the Presqu’île and the church of Saint-Nizier, where Pauline Jaricot is buried. Continue north to the amphitheater of the Three Gauls, on the slope of the Croix-Rousse, to pray at the place of the martyrs of 177. End the day across the Rhône in the Guillotière district at the Prado, where the room in which Antoine Chevrier died and his tomb in the chapel are kept.

Mass times at the basilica and the cathedral change with the seasons and are posted on their websites. Lyon is two hours by high-speed train from the Gare de Lyon in Paris. It is the last stop of our Via Caritatis, and on Via Sanctorum it follows Ars and comes before Annecy.

Further reading: Ars: A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Village of Saint John Vianney.

• The basilica of FourvièreOn the hill above the old town, with the older chapel of the Virgin beside it.
• The amphitheater of the Three GaulsOn the slope of the Croix-Rousse, where the martyrs of 177 died.
• The Maison de LorettePauline Jaricot’s house on the hill of Fourvière.
• The PradoThe chapel and house of Antoine Chevrier, in the Guillotière district.

The basilica of Fourvière is open every day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (9 p.m. on Sunday), and the old chapel of the Virgin from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Its two great days are September 8, when the city renews the vow its aldermen made during the plague of 1643, and December 8, during the Festival of Lights, when the crowds are very large.

The towers of the basilica are under restoration until the end of 2027; the basilica stays open throughout.

Mass is celebrated four times a day at Fourvière, confessions are heard every day, and the rosary is prayed on weekday afternoons. A rector and chaplains serve the shrine. There is no Mass in English, but in summer the basilica offers guided tours in English on weekends, including a tour of the roofs.

The funicular from Vieux-Lyon climbs to Fourvière in a few minutes; wheelchair users need help at the small step on boarding. From the esplanade, an elevator serves the basilica and the crypt, and wheelchairs can be borrowed. The tour of the roofs climbs 345 steps.

• June 2, in FranceFeast of Saint Blandina and the martyrs of Lyon
• June 28Feast of Saint Irenaeus
• January 9, in the archdiocese of LyonFeast of Blessed Pauline Jaricot
• October 2, in the archdiocese of Lyon and the PradoFeast of Blessed Antoine Chevrier
• June 6, among the Marist BrothersFeast of Saint Marcellin Champagnat
• April 28Feast of Saint Peter Chanel
• September 8The Vow of the Échevins, renewed each year at Fourvière
• December 8The Festival of Lights, when the city lights candles for the Virgin

• Saint Blandina and the martyrs of LyonThe first martyrs of Gaul whose story has come down to us
• Saint IrenaeusBishop of Lyon and Doctor of the Church
• Blessed Pauline JaricotFounder of the Propagation of the Faith and of the Living Rosary
• Blessed Antoine ChevrierFounder of the Prado
• Saint Marcellin ChampagnatPriest, founder of the Marist Brothers
• Saint Peter ChanelMarist priest, protomartyr of Oceania

• Via SanctorumThe Way of the Saints, nine daysDay VII, Ars to Lyon · Day VIII, Lyon to Annecy
• Via CaritatisThe Way of Charity, seven daysDay V, Reims to Lyon · Day VI, Lyon · Day VII, Lyon

Two hours by high-speed train from the Gare de Lyon in Paris.

The shrine’s own website, for times and news: fourviere.org/en

• ArsThe Shrine of the Curé of Ars, about 16 miles as the crow flies
• Berzé-la-VilleThe Monks’ Chapel, about 42 miles as the crow flies
• ClunyThe Abbey of Cluny, about 47 miles as the crow flies
• TournusThe Abbey of Saint-Philibert, about 55 miles as the crow flies