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Saint Apollonia crowned with flowers, holding a palm and pincers with a tooth, painted by Francisco de Zurbarán about 1635–1640

Saint Apollonia

Alexandrian virgin whose teeth were broken before she sprang into the fire

Patron of
toothache
Western calendar
9 February
Orthodox calendar
9 February

Apollonia was a virgin of Alexandria, very probably a deaconess, held in high esteem in the Church there when a mob rose against the Christians of the city just before the persecution of Decius. Bishop Dionysius, who lived through those days, wrote that they broke all her teeth with repeated blows and built a fire outside the city gates, threatening to burn her alive unless she repeated their impious words: "Given, at her own request, a little freedom, she sprang quickly into the fire and was burned to death." Those suffering from toothache call on her, and painters show her holding a tooth in a pair of pincers.

Sources

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