APOLLONIUS the SENATOR, saint, martyr. — Put to death in A.D. 185, a Roman senator according to St Jerome, whereas Eusebius makes him a man well known among the Christians of Rome for his learning and philosophy. Denounced by a man instigated by the devil — St Jerome says he was a servant of his — A. was brought before Perennius, prefect of the praetorium (180–85). The latter invited him to justify himself before the senate, which A. did by delivering a brilliant defence of his faith; but the senate remained unmoved and condemned him to death.
Eusebius had published the entire judicial dossier relating to A. in his collection of the Acts of the ancient martyrs, now unfortunately lost. Part of the Acts of A. are however known to us through a Greek version and an Armenian one, which represent two stages in the reworking of the primitive Acts. Generally the Greek text is better, but the whole content is arbitrarily attributed by the reviser to the apostolic figure of Apollo; most interesting is the dialogue between Perennius and A., in which the latter defends his faith with deep conviction and unaffected eloquence. This version of the Acts of A. has now passed into the collection of the authentic Acts of the martyrs. The day of A.’s death, according to the present redaction of his Acts, would be 21 April. Floro assigned him 18 April, a date still kept by the Roman Martyrology, following a confusion with the martyr Apollonius, companion of St Valentine, commemorated on that day in the Hieronymian Martyrology.
APOLLONIA, saint. — Fresco by B. Luini (16th cent.). — Saronno, Sanctuary.
Her name was inserted in the Martyrology of Floro on 20 February, later arbitrarily altered by Ado to 9 February, which is the date of her present commemoration.
Iconography. — She is generally represented as a young woman, bearing the generic attributes of martyrdom and the specific ones of pincers and a tooth, which allude to her passion and to the particular devotion paid her by sufferers from toothache. From the late Middle Ages to the Baroque period Italian (Luini, Granacci, C. Dolci) and Northern (Fouquet, Jordaens, G. Crayer, Willmann) artists produced many representations of her. The special popularity of the saint is attested by her numerous appearances in graphic art, from fifteenth-century woodcuts and engravings to eighteenth-century devotional images.
POPULAR TRADITIONS. — With reference to the best-known episode of her martyrdom, St A. is invoked by the people for the healing of toothache.