Thursday, February 09, 2006
This Day in Ancient History
On this day in 249 AD, St. Apollonia is martyred in Alexandria, Egypt. During the Christian Persecution by Emperor Decius (although the time line is not in perfect congruence here) she was tortured, her teeth were broken off with pliers, in an effort to get her to renounce her faith. She was given the final choice of renunciation or death by being burned alive. She demonstrated her choice by jumping into the fire. She is not surprisingly the patron saint of dentists and teeth. Her saint card shows a woman with pliers or a tooth on a chain and a burning pile of wood in the background.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:52 AM 
