287. Who Was the Little Child That Jesus Took Up and Blessed?

The details of these incidents in the life of Jesus, have been preserved to us only by tradition. It is said that the little child of whom the Saviour remarked, "of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Mark 9:36), afterwards became known to the Christian Church as Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch. He was one of the great company of martyrs who gave their lives for the faith in the time of Trajan, being torn to pieces by lions in the amphitheatre at Rome.