The following is the account of the martyrdom of S. Apollonia, by Dionysius, the bishop of Alexandria, himself a confessor at the time, in the persecution. "The persecution with us did not begin with the imperial edict, but preceded it a whole year. And a certain prophet and poet excited the mass of the heathen against us, stirring them up to their native superstition. Stimulated by him, and taking full liberty to exercise any kind of wickedness, they considered this the only way of showing their piety--to slay us. First, then, seizing a certain aged man, named Metras, they called on him to utter impious expressions, and as he did not obey, they beat his body with clubs, and pricked his face and eyes; after which they led him away to the suburbs, where they stoned him. Next, they led a woman called Quinta, who was a believer, to the temple of an idol, and attempted to force her to worship; but when she turned away in disgust, they tied her by the feet, and dragged her through the whole city, over the rough stones of the paved streets, dashing her against the millstones, and scourging her at the same time, until they brought her to the same place, where they stoned her. Then, with one accord, all rushed upon the houses of the pious, and whomsoever of their neighbours they knew, they drove thither in all haste, and despoiled and plundered them, setting apart the more valuable of the articles for themselves; but the more common and wooden furniture they threw about and burnt in the roads, presenting a sight like a city taken by the enemy. They also seized that admirable virgin Apollonia, then in advanced age, and beating her jaws, they broke out all her teeth, and kindling a fire before the city, threatened to burn her alive, unless she would repeat their impious expressions. She appeared at first to shrink a little, but when suffered to go, she suddenly sprang into the fire, and was consumed."
Relics in the Church of S. Apollonia, at Rome; her head in S. Maria Transtiberina; her arms in S. Laurence, outside the walls; part of her jaw in S. Basil's; other relics at Naples, Volaterra, Bonona, at Antwerp in the Jesuit Church; in S. Augustine's, at Brussels; in the Jesuit Church at Mechlin; in S. Cross at Liége; at Cologne, in the Jesuit Church; and in those of S. Gereon, S. Maurice, S. Alban, S. Cunibert, and others; and elsewhere. These relics consist in some cases of a tooth only, or a splinter of bone.