Note: I will be relying on the Church Fathers section at New Advent for the texts of the Fathers, unless otherwise noted. I will be relying on the Patron Saints Index (hereafter, "PSI") and the Medieval Sourcebook (for later hagiography) as well. I thank the good people who run these sites for the service they do the Church and/or history (I do not necessarily agree with the opinions expressed at any site, but especially not at the Medieval Sourcebook).
Disclaimers aside, let's move on...
The Aurea Legenda (Golden Legend) tells the story of St. Ignatius of Antioch (among others) in a nice, condensed form. I'm going to use the translation provided at Patron Saints Index. As a foreword, be aware that legend doesn't mean myth. In fact, it means nothing of the sort at all and doesn't even imply in any sense that the story is a fictional account. The word legend means must be read, a sort of imperative demanded by the nature of the text. It is such a great story, a true one, that it must be read.
The name Ignatius implies fire, and he is filled with the fire of divine love. According to the Legenda, Ignatius desired to know more about Christ (whom another legend says he had met as a child when Christ called him to stand, cf. Matthew 18:2-4). As an adult, he was a disciple of St. John the Apostles and wrote a letter to the Blessed Virgin, requesting to know everything about Christ from her who was His Mother and who knew Him best. (Marian devotion? In the apostolic age? Yes.) She responded that everything John taught him was true (the Blessed Virgin does not take on herself the role of apostle, but points us to the Magisterium).
After having become the Bishop of Antioch (a See once occupied by St. Peter), he admonished the Emperor Trajan for his anti-Christian persecutions and was himself taken prisoner. St. Ignatius wrote letters to many Churches along the way to Rome: Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Philadelphia, Smyrna, and others. He spoke often of the need for Christians to unite around their bishops, to be in harmony with them, to avoid evil and heresy. Finally, we read in his Epistle to the Romans, "I beseech of you not to show an unseasonable good-will towards me. Allow me to become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain to God. I am the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my tomb, and may leave nothing of my body; so that when I have fallen asleep [in death], I may be no trouble to any one. Then shall I truly be a disciple of Christ, when the world shall not see so much as my body. Entreat Christ for me, that by these instruments I may be found a sacrifice [to God]." St. Ignatius of Antioch desired not to be saved from martyrdom, but to be permitted to go to his certain death, wherein he would finally be with Christ in Paradise.
According to the Legend, he was tortured repeatedly and nevertheless always had the name of Jesus Christ upon his lips. When asked by his torturers how it was possible to suffer so willingly while calling on Christ, he told them that Christ's name was written on his heart. After being sacrificed to two lions, the Legend says, his heart was removed and the name of Christ found written upon it in gold.
St. Ignatius of Antioch, pray for us!
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