Apollonius

Saint Apollonius of Alexandria, Martyr, was an Egyptian priest, venerated as a martyr by the Catholic Church. Almost nothing is known of him, for the passion that associates him with Saints Nicander and Marcian is considered a forgery.

Tradition says that after enduring several tortures and remaining steadfast in the faith, he was condemned to death, with other companions, by drowning, in the time of the emperor Maximian (286-305). His veneration is very old: he is mentioned on 10 April in the Syriac martyrology and in the Hieronymian, and only the latter says that he was a priest. In the ninth century his name entered the martyrology of Usuard together with five other martyrs (Granus, Hilary, Donatus, Concessus and Saturninus), but the addition is the result of a misreading of the Hieronymian martyrology, and the five have nothing in common with Apollonius. Yet the formula "Apollonius and companions" passed into the Roman Martyrology of Baronius; after the reform following the Second Vatican Council the mention of the five was removed.