February 9
Saint Appolonia was martyred with a group of other virgin martyrs in the city of Alexandria, Egypt, in about 248. A mob, incited to riot by a false prophecy of calamity, attacked Christians, and the government authorities did not stop them. Some were seized and killed immediately. The houses of several Christians were destroyed. Appolonia, an older woman who was well-known as a preacher in the Church, was seized. The blows of her attackers broke all of her teeth. While they prepared a wood fire, they threatened to burn her alive if she would not renounce Christianity or pray to pagan gods. She refused, and rather than wait for them to force her, she jumped into the fire and was burned to death. In the Church of Madonna della Strada, at Loyola University in Chicago, there is a stained-glass window honoring Saint Appolonia as the patron of dentists. In images, she is often pictured with a golden tooth on a necklace, or holding a tooth with pincers.
(Image © Renata Sedmakova, via Shutterstock)