APOLLONIO il SENATORE, saint, martyr. — Put to death around 185, a Roman senator according to s. Girolamo, whereas Eusebius makes him a man known among the Christians of Rome for his learning and philosophy. Denounced by an individual incited by the devil — s. Girolamo says that he was one of his servants — A. was brought before Perennio, prefect of the praetorium (180–85). The latter invited him to justify himself before the senate, which A. did by delivering a brilliant defense of his faith; but the senate remained inflexible and condemned him to death.
Eusebius had published the entire judicial dossier concerning A. in his collection of the Acts of the ancient martyrs, now unfortunately lost. Parts of the Acts of A. are nevertheless known to us through a Greek recension and an Armenian
version, which represent two stages in the reworking of the primitive Acts. In general, the Greek text is better, but the entire content is arbitrarily attributed by the reworker to the apostolic personage Apollo; the dialogue between Perennio and A. is most interesting, as he defends his faith with profound conviction and with a vivacity free of rhetoric. This recension of the Acts of A. has now been included in the collection of the authentic Acts of the martyrs. According to the current recension of his Acts, A.’s day of death would be 21 April. Floro assigned him 18 April, a date still preserved by the Roman Martyrology, following a confusion with the martyr Apollonio, companion of S. Valentino, commemorated on that day by the Hieronymian Martyrology.