Basilica of Saint-Martin d'Ainay

[1] Legendary origins of a remarkably large church, which may once have stood on this site, are noted by Gregory of Tours[2] and may be connected to the account of Eusebius, in his Historia Ecclesiae, of the martyrdom of Blandina, the young girl among 48 Christians fed to lions by the Romans in 177 in Lyon's amphitheatre.

Their bones were burnt, thrown into the river, and washed up downstream where the surviving Christians of the community buried them secretly beneath the altar of what Gregory calls a "basilica of remarkable magnitude.

The tiny building with its massive walls, watchtower, narrow window openings and spaces for heavy doors, was apparently built with defence in mind, and reflects the many dangers of warfare and violent incursions of the period of its construction.

In 1562, during the French Wars of Religion, the troops of the Baron des Adrets destroyed part of the buildings, including the cloister; the church was badly damaged.

The basilica of Saint-Martin is the burial place of Bishop John O'Brien of Cloyne and Ross in Ireland, the noted Irish lexicographer and antiquarian, who died in Lyon on 13 March 1769.