The life of St Apollinarius of Ravenna
The fuller received Life connects him with Antioch and the Apostle Peter, who sent him to preach in Ravenna. There he gathered believers, ordained clergy, and endured repeated attacks rather than abandon the flock entrusted to him.
Later tradition preserves a longer course of exile, shipwreck, and preaching through the lands across the Adriatic before his return to Ravenna. These details come from a later Passion and are received as tradition rather than as equally early historical testimony. The accounts meet again at the end of his life. Apollinaris was attacked outside Ravenna and carried away grievously wounded. During the few days that remained, he continued to strengthen the Christians around him and urged them not to lose heart under persecution. He then reposed from those injuries, traditionally in the reign of Vespasian.
His memory does not rest on one disputed episode. It rests on the durable witness of Ravenna itself: a founding bishop who spent his strength preaching Christ, suffered for his people, and remained their teacher even while dying.
