St. Apollonia
was a holy virgin who suffered martyrdom in Alexandria during a local uprising
against the Christians (end of 248, or beginning of 249). During some festivities
the agitation of the populace rose to a great height, and when one of their
poets prophesied a calamity, they committed bloody outrages on the Christians
whom the authorities made no effort to protect. The great Dionysius, then
Bishop of Alexandria (247-265), related the sufferings of his people in
a letter addressed to Fabius, Bishop of Antioch, he wrote about Apollonia:
“These men seized her also and by repeated blows broke all her teeth. They
then erected outside the city gates a pile of fagots and threatened to burn
her alive if she refused to repeat after them impious words (either a blasphemy
against Christ, or an invocation of the heathen gods). Given, at her own
request, a little freedom, she sprang quickly into the fire and was burned
to death.” |
