Apollonia, Virgin and Martyr

Apollonia was martyred in Alexandria in the last year of the reign of Emperor Philip. A mob was killing Christians for not blaspheming God and worshiping false gods. The pagans beat her and knocked out all of her teeth. They dragged her out of the city, lit a great fire, and threatened to throw her into it unless she blasphemed God. She asked for a moment’s delay, they released her, and she threw herself into the fire. Apollonia, a deaconess, is the patron saint of dentists. She is honored by dentists and invoked against toothache and all dental diseases.