Saint Apollinaris, Bishop & Martyr
S. Apollinaris Episcopi et Martyris
Saint Apollinaris was the first Bishop of Ravenna, an apostolic-age pastor who is honoured as the founder of that ancient Church and crowned its long line of bishops with the witness of martyrdom.
Saint Apollinaris is venerated as the first Bishop of Ravenna, the great city of the Italian Adriatic, and ancient tradition reckons him among the disciples of the apostolic age. The Church of Ravenna held his memory in the highest honour, building over his tomb the splendid basilica that still bears his name and counting him the father of all its bishops. His feast, kept on the twenty-third of July, joins the worship of the faithful to one of the earliest shepherds to carry the Gospel into northern Italy.
What the Church remembers
The most ancient testimony connects Saint Apollinaris with the preaching of the faith at Ravenna and with a long and arduous episcopate marked by suffering for the name of Christ. The early accounts of his life that have come down to us are of a later date and contain much that cannot be confirmed with certainty; the Church, in honouring him, does not depend upon their detail. What is sure and constant in the tradition is that he was the first to govern the Church of Ravenna, that he laboured for the conversion of that region, and that he bore patiently the trials and persecutions that finally brought him to a martyr’s death.
For this reason the Roman Martyrology and the ancient liturgical books name him simply as bishop and martyr, and it is enough to honour him under those titles. He stands among the founding pastors of the Italian churches who planted the faith at great cost and watered it with their blood.
His veneration
The cult of Saint Apollinaris is among the oldest and most firmly rooted in northern Italy. The basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe, raised near Ravenna in the sixth century and adorned with celebrated mosaics, preserves his memory in enduring beauty, and in its great apse he is depicted as a shepherd standing among his flock, his hands raised in prayer. Through the centuries the city of Ravenna has looked to him as its first father in the faith and its heavenly patron, and the universal Church keeps his name upon her calendar as a witness to the apostolic origins of the Gospel in those lands.
The Collect
O God, the rewarder of faithful souls, who hast consecrated this day by the martyrdom of blessed Apollinaris, Thy Bishop: grant to us Thy servants, we beseech Thee, that we who keep his venerable feast may obtain pardon through his prayers.
Deus, fidélium remunerátor animárum, qui hunc diem beáti Apollináris Sacerdótis tui martýrio consecrásti: tríbue nobis, quæsumus, fámulis tuis; ut, cujus venerándam celebrámus festivitátem, précibus ejus indulgéntiam consequámur.
Patronage
He is honoured as the first Bishop and heavenly patron of Ravenna, where the ancient basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe preserves his memory.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar his feast is observed on 20 July as an optional memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Apollinaris?
His feast is kept on 23 July in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast. In the modern calendar it is observed on 20 July.
Who was Saint Apollinaris?
He was the first Bishop of Ravenna, an early pastor of the apostolic age who preached the Gospel in northern Italy, endured much suffering for the faith, and died a martyr. The famous basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe near Ravenna is dedicated to him.
Why is so little known of his life?
The detailed accounts of his life were written long after his death and cannot be fully verified. The Church honours him for what is certain and constant in the tradition — that he was the founding bishop of Ravenna and a martyr for Christ.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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