I’ve been in Guernsey on a walking holiday this past week and yesterday came across a church called St Apollonia’s Chapel in La Grande Rue, St Saviours. To my great amazement we discovered that this church was named after Apollonia, who is the patron saint of dentists. Like most people I dread going to the dentists and will find any reason not to go and I had never realised before that dentists had a patron saint!

Apollonia was a very brave lady who in approximately AD 249 was tortured for her faith in Christ and had her teeth knocked out by her persecutors as they tried to get her to deny Christ and renouce her Christian faith. However she refused to deny Christ and after losing her teeth to her persecutors jumped into a fire that was being prepared to burn her at the stake and suffered martyrdom for her faith.

Maybe next time the dentist is giving me a filling I will remember the bravery of Apollonia who was prepared to suffer the pain and anguish of having her teeth knocked out because she loved Christ so much.

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