{"id":8162,"date":"2014-02-01T20:59:11","date_gmt":"2014-02-01T20:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/velezylozano.com\/santa-apolonia-patrona-de-los-dentistas-9-de-febrero-en-murcia\/"},"modified":"2014-02-01T20:59:11","modified_gmt":"2014-02-01T20:59:11","slug":"santa-apolonia-patrona-de-los-dentistas-9-de-febrero-en-murcia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/velezylozano.com\/en\/saint-apolonia-patron-saint-of-dentists-9-february-in-murcia\/","title":{"rendered":"Saint Apollonia, patron saint of dentists - 9 February in Murcia"},"content":{"rendered":"
On 9 February, Spain celebrates the day of 'Saint Apollonia', patron saint of dentists. Her story, unknown to many, reflects with intensity the passion and faith of this woman, whose remains are now scattered in many parts of the world. In any case, long before the existence of dentists as we know them today, Saint Apollonia is the saint to whom we should entrust ourselves in case of a toothache... something quite painful in times before ours, when we can enjoy ever more comfortable and quicker treatments.<\/p>\n
If we go into detail on her history, we know that she lived in Alexandria, and that on 9 February 250, during the persecution of Christians ordered by Emperor Decius, she was cruelly tortured by having her teeth pulled out, and then burnt to death.<\/p>\n
To find out more about it, we must refer to the only historical document that refers to it. It is none other than a letter of Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, written to Fabius, bishop of Antioch, in which he tells him about the persecutions of Decius in Alexandria, and also tells us everything we really know about Saint Apollonia, who was martyred after the death of Metras and Quinta, two other Christians who refused to renounce their faith:<\/p>\n
\"Then, by common consent, they all rushed into the houses of the Christians in haste, and plundered them, setting aside the most valuable articles for themselves, and when they burnt their wooden furniture and threw it into the streets, it looked like a spectacle of a city taken by the enemy. They also took care of Apollonia, an elderly Christian, by cutting open her jaw and taking out all her teeth, after which they lit a fire in front of the city and threatened to burn her alive, unless she abandoned Christianity, ... until the fire consumed her.<\/i>\".<\/p>\n
After that, we know that she was quickly canonised, and took her place among the noble army of Christian martyrs, but one can easily guess that \"an elderly Christian\" was not very popular among painters and writers of religious poetry and afflicted devotees. Therefore, it is not surprising that she was constantly painted younger and more beautiful in the tradition of church and ecclesiastical art, and as she became more attractive, her story became more elaborate as well.<\/p>\n