De sancta Apollonia
The Persecution in Alexandria
A violent persecution erupts in Alexandria, leading to the brutal torture of the faithful.
When a massive persecution against the servants of God began in Alexandria during the time of the Emperor Decius, a certain wretch named Divinus anticipated the leaders of the demons by stirring up a superstitious mob against the followers of Christ, a mob so inflamed that they thirsted for nothing but the blood of the pious. First, they seized some religious people of both sexes, tearing their bodies apart limb by limb with clubs and gouging out their faces and eyes with sharp reeds before throwing them out of the city; others they dragged to idols, forcing them to worship, or rather, to curse their faith, binding chains to their feet and dragging them through the streets of the entire city, tearing them apart with a foul and horrific form of torture.
The Courage of Apollonia
Apollonia, a steadfast virgin, faces her persecutors with divine strength and chooses to enter the fire of her own accord.
At that time, there was a remarkable virgin of advanced age named Apollonia, adorned with the flowers of chastity, sobriety, and purity, who stood like a most sturdy pillar, strengthened by the very Spirit of the Lord, offering a spectacle admirable to both angels and men through the merit of her faith and the virtue she had received from the Lord. When the raging mob broke into the homes of God's servants and began tearing everything apart with hostile cruelty, the blessed Apollonia was immediately dragged to the tribunal of the wicked, innocent in her simplicity and most strong in her virtue, bringing nothing with her but the constancy of her fearless mind and the purity of her unblemished conscience, offering her soul devoted to God and handing over her most chaste body to her persecutors for punishment. Once the blessed virgin was captured, her persecutors, raging cruelly against her, first knocked out all her teeth, then piled up wood to build a massive pyre, threatening to burn her alive unless she would join them in uttering their impious words. But when she saw the pyre was lit, she deliberated for a brief moment, then suddenly broke free from the hands of the wicked and leapt of her own accord into the fire they had threatened her with. Even the authors of this cruelty were terrified, for the woman was found to be more eager for death than her persecutor was for her punishment. Though she was subjected to various tortures, neither the weight of the torments inflicted upon her nor the flames of her most savage persecutors could overcome this most courageous martyr of Christ, because her mind was burning and glowing far more intensely with the rays of truth. And so, that physical fire, fueled by the hands of mortals, could not extinguish the heat divinely infused into her indefatigable heart.
The Triumph of Grace
The author reflects on the spiritual victory of the martyr, whose love for Christ overcame all earthly suffering.
O, what a great and marvelous struggle for this virgin, who burned by the grace of a merciful God—burning so that she might not burn, and so that she might not be consumed—yet she was consumed as if she had been handed over to no fires or tortures at all. There had been, to be sure, the security of freedom, but there had been no glory of the one who struggles. Apollonia, that most powerful virgin and martyr of Christ, holding the world's delights in contempt, trampling the flourishing world underfoot in her mind, and desiring to please her Spouse, Christ, persisted with happy perseverance in her virginal resolve amidst the most intense torments; the merit of this virgin, who triumphed so gloriously and happily, therefore stands out and shines among the martyrs; indeed, a manly spirit did something greater in this woman, since her fragility did not fail her under such a weight of struggle. She also drove all earthly fear from herself through heavenly love, seized the trophy of Christ's cross, and fought and conquered—armed with faith rather than iron—both against her own desires and, behold, against every torture. May He deign to grant this to us, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns forever and ever.
Read the original Latin
Cum apud Alexapdriam temporibus Decii imperatoris immanis persecutio contra Dei servos sumsisset exordium, quidam Divinus nomine miser daemonum principalia praevenit edula, superstitiosum contra ejusdem Christi famulos excitans vulgus, a quo multitudo incensa nihil aliud quam piorum sanguinem sitiebat. Primo ergo quosdam religiosos utriusque sexus corripientes alios per corpus membratim fustibus conscisserunt vultumque et oculos acutis calamis terebrantes extra civitatem ejecerunt, quosdam vero ad ydola producentes adorare cogebant recusantes, imo potius exsecrantes, vincla pedibus innectentes et per plateas totius civitatis trahentes foedoque horrendoque supplicii genere discerpunt. Ergo erat his temporibus quaedam admiranda virgo longaevae aetatis nomine Apollonia, castitatis, sobrietatis atque munditiae floribus redimita, tanquam columna fortissima ipso spiritu domini confirmata pro fidei suae merito et virtute a domino percepta admiranda angelis et hominibus praebens spectacula. Cum itaque furens maltitudo per domos servorum Dei irrueret atque crudelitate hostili cuncta diriperet, rapitur protinus ad tribunal impiorum beata Apollonia simplicitate innocens, virtute fortissima, nihil sane aliud deferens quam suae intrepidae mentis constantiam et illaesae conscientiae puritatem, devotam Deo offerens animam et castissimum tradens persequentibus corpus ad poenam. Igitur comprehensa beata virgine persecutores in ipsam crudeliter saevientes primo ei omnes dentes ejus excusserunt, deinde congestis lignis rogum ingentem exstruxerunt, comminantes se vivam eam incensuros, nisi cum ipsis pariter impia proferret. At illa, ut rogum vidit esse succensum, paululum quidem intra semetipsam deliberans repente de manibus impiorum prorupit atque in ignem, quem minabantur, sponte prosilit, ita ut perterrerentur etiam ipsi crudelitatis auctores, quod promtior est inventa femina ad mortem, quam persecutor ad poenam. Diversis igitur affectata suppliciis: fortissimam martirem Christi nec incumbentium tormenta poenarum et saevissimorum persecutorum superare flamma potuit, quia longe ardentius veritatis radiis mens ejus accensa fervebat. Unde nec potuit de infatigabili pectore calorem divinitus infusum corporeus ille et mortalium ministratus manibus ignis excludere.
O magnum mirandumque certamen hujus virginis, quae míserantis Dei dispensante gratia arsit, ne arderet et ne ureretur, exusta est, quasi nullis esset ignibus et suppliciis tradita. Fuerat quidem securitas libeftatis, sed nulla exstiterat gloria dimicantis. Validissima virgo martir Christi Apollonia mundi delicias continens, florentem mundum mentis despectu calcans et sponso suo Christo placere cupiens felici perseverantia in virginali proposito inter cruciamenta firmissima perstitit: praeminet ergo et praefulget inter martires meritum hujus virginis tam gloriose et feliciter triumphantis; profecto virilis animus in hac femina majus aliquod fecit, quoniam sibi tanto pondere certaminis fragilitas non defecit. Omnem quoque timorem terrenum a se per amorem coelestem expellens crucis Christi trophaeum arripuit et tam contra libidines quam ecce contra universa supplicia fide potius armata quam ferro dimicavit et vicit. Quod ipse nobis praestare dignetur, qui cum patre et spiritu sancto vivit el reguat in saecula saeculorum.
The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea) companion
Continue through all 240 chapters, one saint a day
Chosen Portion serves the Golden Legend as a daily portion on iOS, free, alongside the full Sub Rosa archive
The Legenda Aurea was organized for day-by-day use across the liturgical year, and Chosen Portion restores that original one-feast-per-day reading rhythm
- A complete saint's life or feast reading most days in 5-10 minutes
- 240 chapters - enough daily readings to cover a full liturgical year and beyond
- Daily reminders so the plan survives busy weeks