🗓️ Feb 9 St. Apollonia, virgin and martyr

St. Apollonia, born in the 3rd century in Alexandria, Egypt, and martyred in the year 249 during the fierce persecution of Christians under the emperor Decius, is an emblematic figure of unwavering courage and purity of faith, whose memory was preserved with distinction in the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius of Caesarea through a letter from Saint Dionysius of Alexandria. This historical account describes how a pagan mob captured this consecrated virgin, already of advanced age, subjecting her to cruel tortures, including the violent extraction of all her teeth and the breaking of her jaw, in an attempt to force her to utter blasphemies against Christ; however, facing the pyre prepared to burn her alive if she did not apostatize, Apollonia asked for a moment of freedom and, moved by a particular inspiration of the Holy Spirit - for the Church does not approve of suicide, but venerates total surrender under divine command -, she voluntarily threw herself into the flames, consummating her sacrifice before the executioners could touch her again. Her extraordinary bravery, preferring physical death to the death of the soul, made her the patron saint invoked against toothaches and dental diseases, remaining through the centuries as a model that true Christian prudence consists in sacrificing the perishable body to safeguard the eternal treasure of grace.

🕯️ Introit (Ps 118, 46-47; 1)

Loquébar de testimóniis tuis in conspéctu regum, et non confundébar: et meditábar in mandátis tuis, quæ diléxi nimis. Ps. Beáti immaculáti in via: qui ámbulant in lege Dómini.

I spoke of thy testimonies before kings, and was not ashamed: and I meditated on thy commandments, which I loved exceedingly. Ps. Blessed are the undefiled in the way: who walk in the law of the Lord.

📜 Epistle (Ecclus 51, 1-8 and 12)

Confitébor tibi, Dómine, Rex, et collaudábo te Deum, Salvatórem meum. Confitébor nómini tuo: quóniam adjútor et protéctor factus es mihi, et liberásti corpus meum a perditióne, a láqueo línguæ iníquæ et a lábiis operántium mendácium, et in conspéctu astántium factus es mihi adjutor. Et liberasti me secúndum multitúdinem misericórdiæ nóminis tui a rugiéntibus, præparátis ad escam, de mánibus quæréntium ánimam meam, et de portis tribulatiónum, quæ circumdedérunt me: a pressúra flammæ, quæ circúmdedit me, et in médio ignis non sum æstuáta: de altitúdine ventris inferi, et a lingua coinquináta, et a verbo mendácii, a rege iníquo, et a lingua injústa: laudábit usque ad mortem ánima mea Dóminum: quóniam éruis sustinéntes te, et líberas eos de mánibus géntium, Dómine, Deus noster.

I will give glory to thee, O Lord, my King, and I will praise thee, O God, my Saviour. I will give glory to thy name: for thou hast been a helper and protector to me, and hast preserved my body from destruction, from the snare of an unjust tongue, and from the lips of them that forge lies, and in the sight of them that stood by, thou hast been my helper. And thou hast delivered me, according to the multitude of the mercy of thy name, from them that roared, prepared to devour, from the hands of them that sought my life, and from the gates of tribulations which compassed me: from the oppression of the flame which surrounded me, and in the midst of the fire I was not burnt: from the depth of the belly of hell, and from an unclean tongue, and from lying words, from an unjust king, and from a slanderous tongue: my soul shall praise the Lord even to death: because thou deliverest them that wait for thee, and savest them out of the hands of the nations, O Lord our God.

📖 Gospel (Mt 25, 1-13)

In illo témpore: Dixit Jesus discípulis suis parábolam hanc: Simile erit regnum cœlórum decem virgínibus: quæ, accipiéntes lámpades suas, exiérunt óbviam sponso et sponsæ. Quinque autem ex eis erant fátuæ, et quinque prudéntes: sed quinque fátuæ, accéptis lampádibus, non sumpsérunt óleum secum: prudéntes vero accepérunt óleum in vasis suis cum lampádibus. Horam autem faciénte sponso, dormitavérunt omnes et dormiérunt. Média autem nocte clamor factus est: Ecce, sponsus venit, exíte óbviam ei. Tunc surrexérunt omnes vírgines illae, et ornavérunt lámpades suas. Fátuæ autem sapiéntibus dixérunt: Date nobis de óleo vestro: quia lámpades nostræ exstinguúntur. Respondérunt prudéntes, dicéntes: Ne forte non suffíciat nobis et vobis, ite pótius ad vendéntes, et émite vobis. Dum autem irent émere, venit sponsus: et quæ parátæ erant, intravérunt cum eo ad núptias, et clausa est jánua. Novíssime vero véniunt et réliquæ vírgines, dicéntes: Dómine, Dómine, áperi nobis. At ille respóndens, ait: Amen, dico vobis, néscio vos. Vigiláte ítaque, quia nescítis diem neque horam.

At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples: The kingdom of heaven shall be like to ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And the bridegroom delaying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. The wise answered, saying: Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go you rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came: and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last come also the other virgins, saying: Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answering said: Amen I say to you, I know you not. Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour.

🔥 The fire of charity and the oil of prudence

Today's liturgy presents us with a sublime paradox through the life of Saint Apollonia: the material flame that consumed her body and the spiritual flame that preserved her soul, reflecting the mystery of divine love that is stronger than death. The Epistle, taken from the book of Ecclesiasticus, sings of the deliverance "from the oppression of the flame which surrounded me," a verse that at first glance seems to contradict Apollonia's martyrdom by fire, but which in fact reveals its theological essence; Saint Augustine teaches us that the martyr is not the one who suffers the penalty, but the one who suffers for the cause of Christ, and that true liberation is not the escape from physical suffering, but the preservation of the integrity of the faith in the face of the "unjust tongue" and apostasy (Saint Augustine, Sermon 274). Apollonia threw herself into the fire not out of despair, but driven by an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit, demonstrating that the fire of divine charity that burned in her heart was infinitely more scorching than the executioners' pyre. This inner ardor is perfectly symbolized by the oil of the prudent virgins in today's Gospel: the oil represents charity and sanctifying grace, virtues that, as Saint Thomas Aquinas explains, are non-transferable at the moment of particular judgment, for no one can lend their merits to another at the hour of death (Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Supplement, Q. 71). The foolish virgins, empty of inner works and attached only to the external appearance of faith (the lamps without oil), find the door closed, while Apollonia, whose lamp was overflowing with the oil of purity and martyrdom, immediately entered the wedding feast of the Lamb. The Church thus invites us to active vigilance, reminding us that true prudence is not worldly caution that avoids pain, but the divine wisdom that prepares the soul with the oil of charity for the definitive encounter with the Bridegroom.