Sub-Saharan Africa, 09 February, 2024 / 11:15 am (ACI Africa).
St. Apollonia was a holy virgin who suffered martyrdom in Alexandria during a local uprising against the Christians in the early 3rd century.
During festivities commemorating the founding of the Roman Empire, a mob began attacking Christians.
The great Dionysius, then Bishop of Alexandria (247-265), related the sufferings of Apollonia:
Men seized her and, by repeated blows, broke all of her teeth. Then they erected a pile of sticks outside the city and threatened to burn her alive if she refused to repeat impious words after them (either a blasphemy against Christ, or an invocation of the heathen gods). When she was given a little freedom, at her own request, she sprang quickly into the fire and was burned to death.
Apollonia belongs to a class of early Christian martyrs who when confronted with the choice between renouncing their faith or suffering death, voluntarily embraced the latter.
