THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT APOLLINARIS OF RAVENNA
The Bishop and Martyr of Those Against Epilepsy and Gout
Born in Antioch (Antakya, modern-day Turkey), Apollinaris is a bishop of Ravenna in Italy, and was appointed by the apostle Peter himself. It is not certain that he was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ, as has been suggested, but he was apparently a disciple of Saint Peter, who may have consecrated and commissioned him as the first Bishop of Ravenna during the reign of the Emperor Claudius, the fourth Roman emperor from 41 to 54 A.D. The precise date of his consecration as Bishop cannot be ascertained. He dedicated himself to the work of evangelization in Emilia-Romagna.
He was known as a great preacher and a miracle worker, and converted many to the faith. This aroused the fury of the pagans, who beat him on the mouth with stones because he persisted in preaching, and hacked him with knives.
He was found half-dead on the seashore, and kept in concealment by the Christians, but was captured again, forced to walk on burning coals, and ultimately expelled for the second time. Notwithstanding, he remained on the vicinity of the city and continued his work of evangelization. He then journeyed to Aemilia. A third time he returned to Ravenna. Again he was captured, beaten and tortured, and flung into a dungeon, loaded with chains, to starve to death; but after four days he was put on board a ship and sent to Greece. There the same course of preachings, miracles, and sufferings continued; and when his very presence caused the oracles to be silent, he was, after a cruel beating, sent back to Italy. All this continued for three years, and a fourth time he returned to Ravenna.
During the persecutions of Emperor Vespasian, he was identified at the gates of the city, savagely beaten, probably at a suburb, tortured for seven days, foretelling meantime that the persecutions would increase, and is executed by the sword.
His relics were held at the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, on the traditional site of his martyrdom. In 856, they were transferred to the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, because of the threat posed by frequent pirate raids along the Adriatic coast.
There are churches dedicated to him in Aachen, and Burtscheid and in Germany, where his veneration was probably spread by Benedictine monks. The Frankish king Clovis built a church dedicated to him in Dijon, and another dedicated to Saint Apollinaris also existed in Bologna, but was destroyed in 1250. Bořivoj II, Duke of Bohemia, founded a church with a collegiate chapter dedicated to Saint Apollinaris in Sadská (then an important centre of the Czech state) in 1117/1118. On behalf of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, the chapter was later transferred from Sadská to recently founded New Town of Prague in 1362 and another church of St Apollinaris built there. Both of these churches in Bohemia stand to the present time. In 1957, a church venerating St. Apollinaris was founded in Napa, California.
A miracle worker, Apollinaris is considered especially effective against epilepsy, venereal disease (sexually transmitted diseases) and gout.