The cosmopolitan hospitality to eastern religions may have allowed the first attested Christian community in Gaul to be established in Lugdunum in the second century, led by a bishop with the eastern name of Pothinus.

In 177 it also becomes the first in Gaul to suffer persecution and martyrdom.

The event is described in a letter from the Christians in Lugdunum to counterparts in Asia, later retrieved and preserved by Eusebius.

There is no record of a cause or a triggering event but mob violence against the Christians in the streets culminates in a public interrogation in the forum by the tribune and town magistrates.

The Christians publicly confess their faith and are imprisoned until the arrival of Legate of Lugdonensis, who gives his authority to the persecution.

About forty of the Christians are martyred—dying in prison, beheaded, or killed by beasts in the arena as a public spectacle.

Among the latter are Bishop Pothinus, Blandina, Doctor Attalus, Ponticus, and the deacon Sanctus of Vienne.

Their ashes are thrown into the Rhône.

Nevertheless, the Christian community either survives or is reconstituted, and under Bishop Irenaeus it continued to grow in size and influence.