Apollonia

Virgin Martyr of the 3rd Century

Unwilling to renounce her faith in Christianity, Apollonia was cruelly tortured and martyred by Decius in the third century. Because of her steadfast courage, Apollonia has been held in high esteem by the church throughout history.

Biography: What we know about Saint Apollonia comes from the writings of St. Dionysius of Alexandria to the Bishop of Antioch discussing the devastating persecution Christians were facing under Emperor Decius. A man named Divinus ignited crowds and urged citizens to round up Christians and torture them in horrifying ways: cutting off limbs, mutilating faces, poking their eyes out, and chaining their feet together while dragging them through the city to their deaths.

Apollonia, a well-respected elder deaconess, lived in Alexandria at the time. Dionysius wrote she was full of chastity and purity and was seen as an example of the merit and virtue of her faith by both mankind and the angels. While most Christians fled the city, Apollonia remained to care for other Christians who had been tortured and survived. Ultimately, she was carried off by the angry mob and handed over to persecutors for unimaginable torture. First, they extracted all her teeth, which is why she is represented in art holding a pair of pincers or with a golden tooth on a necklace. When Apollonia refused to sacrifice at pagan altars, a pyre was constructed to burn her alive. Instead of allowing the executioners to take her life, she escaped from their clutches and plunged herself into the fire of her own free will. The angry mob stood shocked at her fearless choice to deny them the satisfaction of taking her life.

Apollonia is included in the small category of saints that found themselves in situations so dire that they chose to sacrifice themselves before their persecutors could triumph. St. Augustine wrote of her decision as a particular direction from the Holy Spirit, since the church believed that it was unlawful to take one’s own life. There are numerous churches and altars venerating Saint Appolonia and she is remembered for her great courage in the face of unimaginable persecution and pain.

Resources:

Carlson, Marla. “Spectator Responses to an Image of Violence: Seeing Apollonia.” In Fifteenth-Century Studies Vol. 27, edited by Edelgard E. DuBruck and Yael Even, NED-New edition., 7–20. A Special Issue on Violence in Fifteenth Century Text and Image. Boydell & Brewer, 2002. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt7zssgj.5.
“Francesco Granacci: Biography” Virtual Uffizi. Accessed February 24, 2025. https://www.virtualuffizi.com/francesco-granacci.html.
Little, Brown and Company, ed. One Hundred Saints: Their Lives and Likenesses Drawn from Butler’s “Lives of the Saints” and Great Works of Western Art. New York: Bulfinch Press, 1993.
Ryan, William Granger, and Eamon Duffy. “Saint Apollonia.” In The Golden Legend, 268–69. Readings on the Saints. Princeton University Press, 2012. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7stkm.71.
“Saint Apollonia | Franciscan Media,” February 12, 2022. https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-apollonia/.