July 20 - St. Peter transferred his apostolic chair from Antioch to that of Rome in order to establish the faith of Jesus Christ. He brought with him several faithful, among whom was Apollinaire. Peter consecrated him bishop and sent him to the city of Ravenna to preach the Gospel.
Apollinaire, having received his master's blessing, set out on his way. Being near the gates of Ravenna, he was received into the house of a soldier named Irenaeus, who had a blind son to whom the holy bishop restored his sight by making the sign of the cross. By this miracle Irenaeus and all those in his house believed in Jesus Christ and were baptized. A military tribune asked him to come to his house to visit his wife and to give her some relief from a long illness in which she had no hope of a cure. Apollinaire approached the sick woman, prayed his prayer to God, and the woman got up, suddenly healed. The husband and everyone in the house all believed in Jesus Christ from that moment on, and prayed to the Prelate to baptize them.
The Tribune, wishing to acknowledge by some grace the blessing which he had just received from Apollinaire, gave him one of his houses as his dwelling place for the time he would remain in Ravenna. People of every sex and condition came there unceasingly, whom Apollinaire instructed in the faith; he celebrated the holy mysteries there, he gave baptism there. But as the number of Christians grew, the governor of the city, Saturnine, was informed of what was happening; he sent for Apollinaire, whom he questioned several times. But seeing his unshakeable steadfastness in the claim of the true God and his contempt for the Gods of the Empire, he abandoned him to these priests. He was taken to the temple of Jupiter to be sacrificed. As he told the priests that the gold of the idols and the silver that was hung there would be better used by giving it to the poor than by exposing it to the demons, Apollinaire was immediately seized and beaten with whips until he was half dead. He was taken in by his disciples, who took him to the house of a widow who was willing to hide him and took all their care.
At the same time, Rufus, patrician of Ravenna, whose daughter was ill, had called Saint Apollinaire to heal her. But he had hardly entered the house when she died. "Fear nothing," said Apollinaire to him; only swear to me; that if your daughter is resurrected, you will not prevent her from becoming attached to her creator". He promised, and Apollinaire having made a prayer, the girl resurrected. She confessed the name of Jesus Christ, received baptism with her mother and a great multitude of people, and lived in virginity.
He had spent three whole years in these races, labors, and persecutions. After three years he returned to Ravenna, to the diocese that the Apostle St. Peter had entrusted to him, where the Christians received him with great joy, thanking God for having returned their beloved pastor to them. There he performed great miracles, as he had done along the way, and continued to show his zeal for the conversion of the unbelievers and the sanctification of Christians.
But one day while he was celebrating the divine Mysteries in the house of a private individual, he was surprised by a troop of pagans. They insulted and tormented him with threats to make him worse if he did not sacrifice to the god Apollo, to whose temple they led him. As soon as Apollinaire saw the statue of the idol, the saint made his prayer there, the idol fell to powder, and the temple was then completely overturned. They then brought him before the judge to have him sentenced to death. And after asking him many questions, he said, "I have a son who was born blind; if you restore his sight we will believe in the God you worship, otherwise fire will be the just punishment for all imposture". Apollinaire called the child and said to him, "My son, in the name of Jesus Christ, open your eyes and see". Such prodigies enabled Apollinaire to save souls, but they also reinforced the persecutions leading to his martyrdom.
