St. Apollonia

Apollonia lived in third century Alexandria. During that time, people formed mobs and attacked Christians, and the authorities made no effort to stop them. Apollonia was a deaconess who served the Church and was held in high esteem by the Christian community.

Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria recounted in a letter how in 249 a mob attacked her, knocking out all of her teeth. They threatened to burn her alive unless she recanted her faith, either by blasphemy or invoking pagan gods. They gave her a moment of freedom, thinking was about to speak, yet instead, she hurled herself into the fire.

This act runs close to an act of suicide, but her bishop considered her a martyr of the faith. St. Augustine addressed the morality of such acts: “They say, during the time of persecution certain holy women plunged into the water with the intention of being swept away by the waves and drowned, and thus preserve their threatened chastity. Although they quitted life in this wise, nevertheless they receive high honor as martyrs in the Catholic Church and their feasts are observed with great ceremony. This is a matter on which I dare not pass judgment lightly. For I know not but that the Church was divinely authorized through trustworthy revelations to honor thus the memory of these Christians.”

While Apollonia and others may have voluntarily embraced death, it seems to be understood that they were facing imminent death, and they chose death over threatening their chastity or faith, making them martyrs. Her life was a testament to her strong will; she was a single woman with a titled role in the Church; she was well-respected by her community and her bishop; she suffered under a violent mob but never rejected her faith.

St. Apollonia is the patron of dentists and those with tooth problems. Her feast day is Feb. 9.  

Two-fold Triumph

Today is the feast of St. Agatha, one of the most well-known virgin marytrs in the Church.

The virgin martyrs have both fascinated and bothered me for awhile. Why is their virginity lauded as much as their martyrdom? That virgin-comma-martyr tag seemed to be downplaying their martyrdom in order to magnify their virginity. While chastity is certainly something to be lauded, Jesus accepts all believers, regardless of sexual past.

The skeptical part of me thinks it’s because the patriarchy sees a young martyr and marks her as more important because she is “pure.” Yet Jesus ate with sinners. Non-virgins are welcome in the kingdom of heaven. And plenty of virgins have entered the kingdom without their virginity being such a noted attribute.

On the feast day of St. Lucy, the priest at my parish commented that we were celebrating the “two-fold triumph of St. Lucy, virgin and martyr.” And since then I’ve been thinking, is virginity really a triumph?

Virginity is not something that can be obtained. Once it is gone, it is gone. But can be guarded and preserved. Maintaining it through the trials of natural desires, tempting relationships, and years of watching others nonchalantly give in, does feel like a feat, but nothing comparable to martyrdom. Admirable, not triumphant.

Then, on the feast day of St. Agnes, I read this fascinating passage that made me look more at the context of why the virgin martyrs were, well, virgin martyrs:

     “In the story of St. Agnes the opposition is not between sex and virginity. The conflict is between a young woman’s power in Christ to define her own identity versus a patriarchal culture’s claim to identify her in terms of her sexuality. According to the view shared by her ‘suitors’ and the state, if she would not be one man’s wife, she might as well be every man’s whore. Failing these options, she might as well be dead. Agnes did not choose death. She chose not to worship the gods of her culture. The God she worshipped sets an altogether different value on her body, her identity, and her human worth. Espoused to God, she was beyond the power of any man to ‘have her way with her.’ ‘Virgin’ in this case is another way to say Free Woman.” (from “All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time” by Robert Ellsberg)

Usually in these cases, young, unmarried women refused marriage on the grounds of their Christianity. They claimed their bodies as their own, to offer to Christ. At a time when women were pretty much property, claiming such autonomy was radical. They wanted to belong to no man but Christ, to move about the world as unmarried and untouched women, making their own choices. In Christ, there is no male or female; women have just as much agency as men in working out their salvation. Being a virgin was a strong, feminist statement, with its end always focused on following Christ. They sought liberation so that they could freely serve God.

Virginity is not something they gained, but it is something they won, when they rejected the culture of pagan gods and arranged marriages and demanded a life of choosing to devote oneself fully to Christ. Virginity was a triumph, one that led to their martyrdom.