(A.D. 249.)
[This saint is named in the Roman and all Western Martyrologies.
There is, however, another Apollonia, martyr under Julian the
Apostate, 114 years her junior, commemorated in some churches on
this day, and some apocryphal Acts of this latter saint are extant.
There is much doubt whether this Roman Apollonia ever really
existed, and whether the Martyrologists have not fallen into an
inaccuracy in writing S. Apollonia "of Rome," instead of "of
Alexandria," because her relics were brought to Rome. The account of
the martyrdom of S. Apollonia of Alexandria is perfectly authentic,
it occurs in a letter from S. Dionysius B. of Alexandria, during the
persecution, to Fabius, B. of Antioch, giving him an account of the
sufferings of his church. This letter is preserved by Eusebius, in
his Ecclesiastical History, lib. vi. c. 41.]
The following is the account of the martyrdom of S. Apollonia, by
Dionysius, the bishop of Alexandria, himself a confessor at the time,
in the persecution. "The persecution with us did not begin with the
imperial edict, but preceded it a whole year. And a certain prophet
and poet excited the mass of the heathen against us, stirring them up
to their native superstition. Stimulated by him, and taking full
liberty to exercise any kind of wickedness, they considered this the
only way of showing their piety--to slay us. First, then, seizing a
certain aged man, named Metras, they called on him to utter impious
expressions, and as he did not obey, they beat his body with clubs,
and pricked his face and eyes; after which they led him away to the
suburbs, where they stoned him. Next, they led a woman called Quinta,
who was a believer, to the temple of an idol, and attempted to force
her to worship; but when she turned away in disgust, they tied her by
the feet, and dragged her through the whole city, over the rough
stones of the paved streets, dashing her against the millstones, and
scourging her at the same time, until they brought her to the same
place, where they stoned her. Then, with one accord, all rushed upon
the houses of the pious, and whomsoever of their neighbours they knew,
they drove thither in all haste, and despoiled and plundered them,
setting apart the more valuable of the articles for themselves; but
the more common and wooden furniture they threw about and burnt in the
roads, presenting a sight like a city taken by the enemy. They also
seized that admirable virgin Apollonia, then in advanced age, and
beating her jaws, they broke out all her teeth, and kindling a fire
before the city, threatened to burn her alive, unless she would repeat
their impious expressions. She appeared at first to shrink a little,
but when suffered to go, she suddenly sprang into the fire, and was
consumed."
Relics in the Church of S. Apollonia, at Rome; her head in S. Maria
Transtiberina; her arms in S. Laurence, outside the walls; part of her
jaw in S. Basil's; other relics at Naples, Volaterra, Bonona, at
Antwerp in the Jesuit Church; in S. Augustine's, at Brussels; in the
Jesuit Church at Mechlin; in S. Cross at Liége; at Cologne, in the
Jesuit Church; and in those of S. Gereon, S. Maurice, S. Alban, S.
Cunibert, and others; and elsewhere. These relics consist in some
cases of a tooth only, or a splinter of bone.
S. Apollonia is invoked, and the application of her relics is sought
against toothache, and other pains in the jaw.
In Art, she is always to be recognized by her being represented
holding a tooth, sometimes pincers grasping a tooth, in her hand.