When was saint apollonia born

Her head is thrown back, her eyes are raised with languishing glances to Heaven; one hand is pressed against her. But we refuse to believe for a minute that this tooth is hers. Look at her! One artist has painted Saint Apollonia to perfection; that is Bernardino Luini, who lived a hundred and fifty years before Carlo Dolce, and did his best work during the first quarter of the Sixteenth century.

Bernardino Luini was the most celebrated master of the Lombard school. He was born at Luino about Upon this always graceful, always tender, always lovely painter fell some shreds from the mantle of his great master, Leonardo.

Saint Apollonia may well rejoice that she found such an artist to portray her, for having once be held her as Luini has depicted her at Milan and Saronno, you feel an affectionate interest in her, though you may not be a dentist, or even have a toothache.

There is a bit of history connected with her and her charming sister saints. Early in the Sixteenth century a family of the name of Bentivoglio were lords of Bologna. Bologna belonged by right to the Popes, as did Ravenna, Forli, Rimini, Perugia, and many other cities of Central Italy, for several hundred years before, Pepin, King of the Franks, had conquered the Lombards and handed their cities over to Rome.

But the hand of the Papacy had often been weak, its temporal authority defied with impunity, so that in the course of time, ambitious wealthy families had gained the control of affairs in most of these cities and ruled them as their own.

Toward the close of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the Sixteenth, there came to the Papal throne a series of strong, able, warlike Pontiffs bent upon wresting these cities from the hands of the usurping lords. The last, a fierce old warrior priest succeeded in ousting Giovanni Bentivoglio from Bologna, and sending him in full flight to a place of safety. Giovanni found a secure refuge in Milan, then at the height of its glory under the Sforza dukes. Florence itself, under her munificent Medici, could hardly vie for magnificence and culture with the Milan of Duke Ludovico II Moro, to bask in whose sympathetic patronage, architects, artists, sculptors, and men of letters hurried from all Italy.

Giovanni Bentivoglio turned quite naturally to Duke Ludovico for help and a haven, since his wife was of the Sforza family, and his son, Alessandro, had married another of the house. Giovanni was now well on in years and in declining health.

Alessandro was entirely unsuccessful in this attempt, and while absent in France, his father Giovanni died. They buried him in the church of San Maurizio quite close to his habitation, a church often called the church of the Great Monastery, because attached to it was a big convent for nuns with many buildings and extensive gardens.

Some years later the beautiful daughter of Alessandro Bentivoglio took the veil and entered the convent of San Maurizio as Sister Alessandra. Of course the interest of the Bentivogli in this establishment was now great. The church had become ruinous; an architect named Giovanni Dolcebuono was commissioned by the convent to rebuild it, and Alessandro Bentivoglio, the deprived Duke of Bologna took upon himself the burden of decorating the interior of the edifice where his father lay in his tomb, and where his daughter was to worship every day as a nun.

He summoned to him a painter whose name just then was golden in Milan — Bernardino Luini — and bade him cover the walls of the new building with frescoes, and Luini painted on the walls of San Maurizio some of his most delightful works.

Every stone of the Great Convent has been swept away; streets of close set buildings now cross and re-cross the site of the gardens where Sister Alessandra used to walk, but the church still remains intact, a thing of beauty. It is rather like a large hall than a church, for it has no side aisles, only a series of flanking chapels. Every inch of the church is covered with frescoes; walls, ceiling, galleries, chapels; and most of them are from the hand of Luini.

But we are not in search of Luinis. We are after Saint Apollonia, and we shall not have much difficulty in finding her. Therefore, midway of it, a partition wall rises almost to the vaulting, separating that part of the building open to the general public from the portion reserved exclusively for the worship of the nuns and the convent.

It is on this partition wall against which stands the High Altar, that we discover the great Luinis in all their gay, clear colors, and their serene beauty. The altar piece is not by Luini, but everything above it and on either side is his. Look to the left, first. We see let into the wall the tabernacle in which the Blessed Sacrament is reserved.

On either side of it stands a saint. Such saints as would grace any paradise. Saint Cecilia has her head crowned with roses, Saint Ursula is crowned with a golden diadem, for she was a royal Breton princess; a sword is thrust into her breast.

Above the tabernacle, within a semi-circular lunette kneels Alessandro Bentivoglio, the donor of the frescoes, magnificently arrayed in his ducal robes. The Baptist has his little white lamb along with him.

Now turn to the right side of the altar. In the place corresponding to that occupied by the tabernacle on the opposite wall, is a figure of the Risen Christ. Beside him stand two other saints, sisters in sweet sanctity to Cecilia and Ursula. This Apollonia is certainly a figure of dignity and beauty worth going far to see.

In the lunette above, a lady kneels, plainly a great lady, for look at her sumptuous robe of white brocade that sweeps and billows about her, and swells into more than ample sleeves. A Benedictine nun stands hovering over her, a white dove perched on her shoulder. This nun pretends to be Saint Scholastica, the sister of Saint Benedicti, but she is young and pretty, and is in reality none other than Sister Alessandra Bentivoglio, daughter of the kneeling Ippolita.

These two ladies are supported by Saint Catherine with her wheel, and Saint Agnes with her white lamb, which balances very neatly the lamb of the Baptist across the altar. In the year , Luini while in Milan accidentally killed a man. Instead, she jumped willingly into the flames and so suffered martyrdom. There were many churches and altars dedicated to her. Apollonia is the patroness of dentists, and people suffering from toothache and other dental diseases often ask her intercession.

She is pictured with a pair of pincers holding a tooth or with a golden tooth suspended from her necklace. Saint Augustine explained her voluntary martyrdom as a special inspiration of the Holy Spirit, since no one is allowed to cause his or her own death. The Church has quite a sense of humor! Apollonia is honored as the patron saint of dentists, but this woman who had her teeth extracted without anesthetic surely ought to be the patron of those who dread the chair.

There is a statue of Saint Apollonia in the church at Locronan, France. In England, there are 52 known images of her in various churches which survived the ravages of the 16th century Commissioners. These are concentrated in Devon and East Anglia. Most of these images are on the panels of rood screens or in stained glass with only one being a stone capital Stoke-in-Teignhead, Devon. Category : Dentistry.

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