Apollinaris of Ravenna (Italian: Apollinare; Greek: Ἀπολλινάριος, Apollinarios, Late Latin: Apolenaris) is a Syrian saint, whom the Roman Martyrology describes as "a bishop who, according to tradition, while spreading among the nations the unsearchable riches of Christ, led his flock as a good shepherd and honoured the Church of Classis near Ravenna by a glorious martyrdom."^[1]

It is not certain what was his native place, though it was probably Antioch in the Roman province of Syria. It is not certain that he was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ, as has been suggested, but he was apparently a disciple of Saint Peter, who may have consecrated and commissioned him as the first Bishop of Ravenna during the reign of the Emperor Claudius, the fourth Roman emperor from 41 to 54 A.D. The precise date of his consecration as Bishop cannot be ascertained. He dedicated himself to the work of evangelization in Emilia-Romagna.^[2] During his twenty-six year tenure as bishop of Ravenna, he faced nearly constant persecution.

Christian inscriptions dating from the 2nd century have been discovered near Classe, confirming the presence of Christianity in Ravenna at a very early date. According to the list of the bishops of Ravenna compiled by Bishop Marianus (546-556), the 12th Bishop of Ravenna was named Severus; and he is among those who signed at the Council of Sardica in 343. Thus, the epoch of Saint Apollinaris may be estimated as possibly to the last decades of the 2nd century, placing his martyrdom possibly under Emperor Septimius Severus.

The Passio Sancti Apollinaris presents historical difficulties. It was probably written by Archbishop Maurus of Ravenna (642-671), who presumably wanted to demonstrate the early origin of his see and a connection to Saint Peter, in an effort to achieve a degree of autonomy from Rome.^[3] (In 666 Emperor Constans II granted the request of Bishop Maurus, allowing Ravenna to consecrate its bishop without approval from Rome, and declared that the Pope had no jurisdiction over the Archbishop of Ravenna, since that city was the seat of the exarch, his immediate representative.)

The miracles Apollinaris wrought soon attracted official attention, for they and his preaching won many converts to the Faith, while at the same time bringing upon him the fury of the idolaters, who beat him cruelly and drove him from the city. He was found half-dead on the seashore, and kept in concealment by the Christians, but was captured again and compelled to walk on burning coals and a second time expelled. But he remained in the vicinity, and continued his work of evangelization.^[4]

He then journeyed to Aemilia. A third time he returned to Ravenna. Again he was captured, beaten and tortured, and flung into a dungeon, loaded with chains, to starve to death; but after four days he was put on board a ship and sent to Greece. There the same course of preachings, miracles, and sufferings continued; and when his very presence caused the oracles to be silent, he was, after a cruel beating, sent back to Italy.^[4]

All this continued for three years, and a fourth time he returned to Ravenna. By this time Vespasian was Emperor, and he, in answer to the complaints of the pagans, issued a decree of banishment against the Christians. Apollinaris was kept concealed for some time, but as he was passing out of the gates of the city, was set upon and savagely beaten, probably at Classis, a suburb, but he lived for seven days, foretelling meantime that the persecutions would increase, but that the Church would ultimately triumph.^[4]

His movement quickly spread beyond the city limits. Popes Simmachus (498-514) and Honorius I (625-638) encouraged its spread to Rome, while the Frankish king Clovis dedicated a church to Apollinaris near Dijon. In Germany it probably spread thanks to the Benedictine and Camaldolese monasteries. A church was also dedicated to him in Bologna in the area of the Palazzo del Podestà, but was demolished in 1250.^[2]