De sancto Apollinari
The Meaning of the Name
The name Apollinaris is interpreted through its roots to signify a man of great virtue and discernment.
The name Apollinaris is said to come from 'pollens' and 'ares'—meaning virtue—as if to say 'powerful in virtues.' Alternatively, it is derived from 'pollo,' which means 'wonderful,' and 'naris,' which we understand as 'discernment,' as if he were a man of wonderful discernment. Or it comes from 'a,' This means 'without,' and 'polluo' and 'ares'—virtue—as if to say 'virtuous without the pollution of vices.'
Apostolic Mission and Early Trials
Sent by Peter to Ravenna, Apollinaris faces persecution and performs miracles, including the raising of a patrician's daughter.
Apollinaris was a disciple of the apostle Peter and was sent by him from Rome to Ravenna, where he healed the wife of a tribune and baptized her along with her husband and household. When this was reported to the judge, Apollinaris was the first to be summoned; he was led to the temple of Jupiter to offer sacrifice, but when he told the priests that the gold and silver hanging on the idols would be better given to the poor than hung before demons, he was immediately seized, beaten with clubs, and left for dead. However, he was rescued by his disciples and recovered in the house of a certain widow for seven months. From there, he went to the city of Classis to heal a nobleman who was mute. But as he entered the house, a girl possessed by an unclean spirit cried out, 'Leave this place, servant of God, for I will have you dragged from the city with your hands and feet bound.' Apollinaris rebuked her and immediately forced the demon to leave. When he invoked the name of the Lord over the mute man and he was healed, more than five hundred people believed. The pagans beat him with clubs and tried to stop him from naming Jesus, but as he lay on the ground, he kept crying out that He alone is the true God. Then they made him stand barefoot on hot coals, but because he continued to preach Christ with the utmost constancy, they threw him out of the city. At that time, while the patrician Rufus was in Ravenna and had a sick daughter, he called for Apollinaris, but she died the moment he entered the house. Rufus said to him, "If only you hadn't entered my house! For the great gods are angry and have refused to heal my daughter; what can you possibly do for her?" Apollinaris replied, "Don't be afraid; just swear to me that if the girl rises, you won't stop her from following her Creator." When he had done this, after a prayer was said, the girl rose and began confessing the name of Christ. She received baptism along with her mother and a great multitude, and she remained a virgin. When Caesar heard this, he wrote to the prefect of the praetorium that he should either make Apollinaris sacrifice or send him into exile.
Endurance and Martyrdom
Apollinaris endures repeated torture, exile, and imprisonment before finally suffering a martyr's death.
The prefect, therefore, had him beaten with clubs because he refused to offer sacrifice, and ordered him to be stretched on the rack and tortured. While he was there, preaching the Lord with the utmost constancy, the prefect ordered boiling water to be thrown onto his wounds, and then wanted to send him into exile, bound in heavy iron chains. The Christians, seeing such wickedness, were inflamed with spirit and rushed upon the pagans, killing more than two hundred of them. Seeing this, the prefect hid himself and threw Apollinaris into the tightest prison; then he put him in chains on a ship and sent him into exile with three clerics following him. There, while escaping the danger of a storm with only two clerics and two soldiers, he baptized the soldiers themselves. Afterward, returning to Ravenna, he was captured by the pagans and led to the temple of Apollo, whose statue he saw, cursed, and it suddenly collapsed. Seeing this, the high priests presented him to the judge Taurus, who, when he had healed his blind son, believed and had him stay on his estate for four years. After this, when the priests had accused him before Vespasian, Vespasian ordered that whoever brought injury to the gods should either sacrifice or be deprived of the city, for it is not just that we should avenge the gods, but they will be able to avenge themselves on their enemies if they are angry. Then Demosthenes the patrician handed him over, unwilling to sacrifice, to a certain centurion who was already a Christian. At his request, he went to the village of the lepers to live there because of the fury of the pagans. But the people followed him, and he was beaten for a very long time until he died. Surviving there for seven days, he admonished his disciples, gave up his spirit, and was honorably buried there by the Christians under Vespasian, who began his reign around the year of the Lord 70. Ambrose says this about this martyr in the preface: 'Apollinaris, a most worthy prelate, is sent to Ravenna by Peter, the prince of the apostles, to announce the name of Jesus to the unbelievers. While he was there performing wonderful signs of virtue for those who believed in Christ, he was often worn down by the lashes of whips, and his aging body was torn by the horrific tortures of the wicked.'
The Power of the Martyr
The chapter concludes by summarizing the apostolic signs performed by the saint and offering a prayer of praise.
But so the faithful wouldn't be afraid because of his troubles, he performed apostolic signs in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. After his torments, he raised a dead girl to life, restored sight to the blind, gave speech back to the mute, freed those possessed by demons, cleansed the contagion of the leper, healed limbs broken by pestilential disease, and cast down the idol along with its temple. O bishop most worthy of praise and admiration, who, with the dignity of a bishop, earned the right to receive apostolic power. O most courageous athlete of Christ, who, even as the heat of his old age was fading, constantly proclaimed Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of the world while in the midst of his punishments.
Read the original Latin
Apollinaris dicitur a pollens et ares, quod est virtus, quasi pollens virtutibus. Vel dicitur a pollo, quod interpretatur mirabilis, et naris, per quam intelligitar discretio, quasi mirabilis discretionis vir. Vel ab a. quod est sine, et polluo et ares, virtus, quasi virtuosus sine pollutione vitfbrum. — Apollinaris Petri apostoli discipulus fuit et ab eo Ravennam de Roma missus est, ubi uxore tribuni ab eo sanata ipsam cum viro et ejus fàmilia baptizavit: quod quidem judici nuntiatur et ad eum Apollinaris primus accersitur ductusque ad templum Jovis, ut ibi immolaret, cum diceret sacerdotibus, ydolorum aurum et argentum ydolis appensum melius pauperibus dari, quam ante daemones sic appendi, protinus capitur et fustibus caesus semivivus relinquitur, sed a discipulis collectus in domo cujusdam viduae septem mensibus refovetnr. nde venit autem ad civitatem Classensem, ut quendam nobilem mutum ibidem curaret. Cum autem domum ingrederetur, puella quaedam immundum spiritum habens exclamavit dicens: recede hinc, serve Dei, nam faciam te ligatis pedibus et manibus de civitate extrahi Quam Apollinaris increpans protinus daemonem abire coegit. Cum igitur super mutum nomen domini invocasset et curatus fuisset, plus quam quingenti homines crediderunt.
Pagani autem eum fustibus caesum prohibebant, ne Jesum nominaret: ille vero in terra jacens clamabat, quoniam ipse verus est Deus. Tunc nudis pedibus super prunas eum stare fecerunt, sed cum adhue Christum constantissime praedicaret, extra urbem eum projecerunt. Eo tempore dum Rufus patricius Ravennae filiam infirmam haberet et ad eam sanandam Apollinarem vocasset, mox ut domum ingressus est, defuncta est. Cui )Rufus: utinam domum meam non introisses, Dii enim magni irati sunt, et filiam meam sanare noluernnt: tu vero quid ei facere poteris? Cui Apollinaris: noli timere, tantum mihi jura, quod, si puella surrexerit, eam creatorem suum sequi neqnaquam prohibebis. Quod cum fecisset, facta oratione puella surrexit et nomen Christi confitens. cum matre et magna multitudine baptisma suscepit et virgo permánsit. Quod audiens Caesar scripsit ad praefectum praetorii, quod Apollinarem aut sacrificare faceret aut in exsilium mitteret.
Praefectus igitur eum sacrificare nolentem fustibus caedi fecit et in equuleo extensum torqueri mandavit. Ubi dum dominum constantissime praedicaret, aquam ferventem in ejus vulneribus jactari jussit et sic gravi pondere ferri vinctum in exsilium mittere voluit. Videntes autem christiani tantam impietatem, accensi animo in paganos irruerunt et plus quam ducentos viros ex ipsis occiderunt. Quod videns praefectus abscondit se et Apollinarem in artissimum carcerem trusit, deinde catenatum in navim posuit et cum tribus clericis eum sequentibus in exsilium destinavit, ubi solummodo cum duobus clericis et dfiobus militibus periculum tempestatis evadens ipsos milites baptizavit, deinde Ravennam rediens a paganis capitur et ad templum Apollinis ducitur, cujus simulacrum videns maledixit et subito corruit. Quod videntes ponti fices ipsum Tauro judici praesentarunt, qui judex, cum fihum suum caecum illuminasset, credidit et ipsum annis quatnor in suo praedio manere fecit. Post hoc cum pontifices apud Vespasianum eum aceusassent, jussit Vespasianus, ut, quicunque Diis irrogaret injuriam, ant sacrificel ant urbe privetur, non enim justum est, ut Deos vindicemus, sed ipsi de inimicis suis se ulcisci poterunt, si irascuntur. Tunc Demosthenes patricius eum nolentem sacrificare cuidam centurioni jam christiano tradidit, cujus rogatu pergens in vicum leprosorum, ut ibidem propter furorem gentilium habitaret,populus autem eum insecutus esset, usque ad mortem diutissime caesus est, ubi septem dies supervivens et discipnlos admonens spiritum tradidit et ibidem a christianis honorifice sepultus est sub Vespasiano, qui coepit circa annos domini LXX. De hoc martire sic dicit Ambrosius in praefatione: Apollinaris dignissimus praesul a principe apostolorum Petro Ravennam mittitur Jesu nomen incredulis nuntiare; qui dum illic mira virtutum signa conferret in Christo credentibus suis, verberum flagellis saepe conteritur et senile jam corpus ab impiis horrendis cruciatibus laniatur.
Sed ne de suis vexationibus fideles trepidarent, in virtute domini Jesu Christi signa apostolica perfecit. Post tormenta puellam resuscitat mortuam, visum conspieuum caecis reddit'et muto restaurat loquelam, obsessam a daemonio liberat, contagionem mundat leprosi, dissoluta morbo pestifero sanat membra, portentum simfllacri simul cum templo dejicit. O dignissimus admiratione praeconii pontifex, qui cum pontificis dignitate apostolicam promeruit accipere potestatem. O fortissimus athleta Christi, qui aetatis jam frigescente calore constanter im poenis Jesum Christum mundi praedicat redemtorem.
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