The Daily Pilgrimage
Today in the City of God: calendar, Martyrology, Gospel, witness, prayer, and Catholic formation held together.
Daily formation
2026-07-23
Receive the day before spending it. Magnify Christ with Our Lady, obey God's commandments, fulfill the duties of your state in life, die to self, trust divine Providence, practice the virtues those duties require, resist error, and close the whole day beneath truth and mercy.
This page is meant to be read slowly and faithfully, so that every part of the present day may be ordered to God.
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St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr
City of God in Exile
St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr
2026-07-23 - Time after Pentecost - Double - red
Today
St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr
A Shepherd Who Kept Preaching Through Wounds
Truth
Mary Is Mother of God and Mother of the Faithful
The Blessed Virgin Mary is truly Mother of God, and her maternal office belongs to the order of Christ's Incarnation, Passion, and grace.
Practice
Pastoral courage.
Pray for true shepherds and state necessary Catholic truths calmly despite fear of opposition.
Offering
To Jesus through Mary
Under Our Lady's mantle, guard purity of faith, heart, intention, and conduct.
The Pilgrim's Devotional Rhythm
Keep this month and this weekday in prayer.
The month's intention and the weekday remembrance gather the pilgrim's prayer into the devotional rhythm of the Church. In harmony with today's Mass, feast, and duties, they teach him to receive ordinary time from God and return it to Him in honor and intercession.
July intention
The Most Precious Blood of Jesus
The price of our redemption forbids a careless life. Remember the Precious Blood poured out upon Calvary and offered upon Catholic altars, and ask that no grace purchased at so great a cost be received in vain.
Intention
For reverence toward the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the conversion of sinners, and the deliverance of souls from slavery to mortal sin.
A faithful act
Offer the day's sacrifices for sinners who are far from confession and sanctifying grace.
Prayer
Most Precious Blood of Jesus, cleanse us from sin, strengthen the weak, and bring wandering souls home.
Thursday remembrance
The Most Blessed Sacrament
Thursday recalls the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the priesthood at the Last Supper. Adore Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and pray for priests, through whose consecrated ministry the Holy Sacrifice is offered.
Intention
For holy priests, worthy Communions, vocations, and reparation for neglect and sacrilege toward the Blessed Sacrament.
A faithful act
Make a visit or spiritual Communion and pray especially for priests by name.
Prayer
Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, increase our faith, receive our reparation, and sanctify Thy priests.
Good Morning, Pilgrim
Receive this day from God.
St. Apollinaris preached the apostolic faith at Ravenna through beatings, exile, imprisonment, and final martyrdom. His endurance shows that opposition does not prove apostolic work false and that sacred office is fulfilled through doctrine, sacrifice, and care for souls rather than comfort.
Consecrate the senses and imagination to Jesus through Mary. Ask her to guard what you permit the eyes, ears, and memory to receive.
Formation in True Devotion - Day 236: Review and Deepening: Consecrated Life through Mary to Jesus
“We must put ourselves and leave ourselves in her virginal hands, like a tool in the grasp of a workman, like a lute in the hands of a skillful player.”
The instrument does not select the song, and the tool does not direct the craftsman. This image reaches the place where self-will hides beneath religious activity: we are often willing to serve God provided that we may choose the task, the hour, the consolation, and the result.
To remain in Mary's hands is to become teachable. Ask her to quiet the inward argument by which you resist the form of today's duty. Then give yourself peacefully to what God actually asks, without imagining a more flattering obedience elsewhere.
Ora — Begin with Prayer
Offer the day before spending it
Prayer gives the day its right beginning and its right end. Before work, conversation, news, or distraction claims the mind, adore the Blessed Trinity and offer every prayer, work, joy, suffering, and temptation to Jesus through Mary. Ask your Guardian Angel for help, and place the souls and needs entrusted to you beneath God's will.
Begin simply. Make the Morning Offering through the hands of Our Lady. Pray the Three Hail Marys for purity and final perseverance, ask your Guardian Angel to govern the senses and imagination, and name the soul or intention for which today's prayers and sacrifices will be offered. Do not rush these acts merely because they are familiar; let them place the whole day beneath God before the world begins to claim it.
O Lord, through St. Apollinaris, give Thy Church faithful bishops and give me courage to confess Christ without bitterness.
Quote of the Day
“Seek therefore first the Kingdom of God, and the justice of him, and all these things shall be given you besides.”
Plain-language help for today - 3 unfamiliar terms
- Ordination
- the sacrament by which a baptized man is made a deacon, priest, or bishop and receives the grace and authority needed for that ministry.
- Commemoration
- a shorter liturgical remembrance of another saint or observance occurring on the same day.
- Martyr
- a Christian who was killed rather than deny Christ or abandon the Faith.
The full Breviary lessons preserve an older English translation. Read the modern explanation first; it identifies the people, event, and doctrine before the historical wording appears.
Today's Full Breviary Sermon or Proper Lesson
The disciple of Peter sent to Ravenna.
Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr
The complete appointed Breviary sermon or proper lessons verified for this observance are printed below. Where a Common supplies additional material, it is identified distinctly rather than presented as the proper text.
Roman Breviary and St. Ambrose, Proper lessons for St. Apollinaris and Homily on St. Luke
“Still exhorting them to stand firm in the Faith.”
- The Breviary remembers St. Apollinaris as a disciple associated with St. Peter, ordained bishop and sent to Ravenna to preach Christ.
- His apostolate is marked by conversions, deliverance, healings, repeated beatings, exile, imprisonment, and a final martyrdom endured while still strengthening the faithful.
- The Third Nocturn joins his witness to St. Ambrose's teaching that Christ's kingdom is not of this world, and that the just man is made like God by knowledge of God and contempt for carnal motions.
Do not stop exhorting souls because wounds have come. St. Apollinaris teaches apostolic endurance, episcopal courage, and firmness when false worship resists the Gospel.
Complete Breviary Text
Fourth Lesson
Apollinaris came from Antioch to Rome with the Prince of the Apostles, and was by him ordained a Bishop, and sent to Ravenna to preach the Gospel of the Lord Christ. He had already converted a great number of persons to the Christian Faith, when the idolatrous priests caught him and gave him a sharp flogging.
A second riot was got up against him on account of one Boniface, a nobleman who had long been dumb, speaking, and his daughter being delivered from an unclean spirit. On this occasion Apollinaris was flogged again, and made to walk barefoot over hot embers. The fire did him no harm, and he was expelled from the city.
Fifth Lesson
Apollinaris lay hid for a while with certain Christians. Thence he went to Emilia, where he restored to life the dead daughter of the Patrician Rufinus, so that the whole household of Rufinus might believe in JESUS Christ. This affair greatly incensed the Prefect, who sent for Apollinaris, and earnestly dealt with him to induce him to cease spreading the Christian Faith in that city.
As Apollinaris paid no heed to the Prefect's orders, he was tortured on the rack, boiling water poured on his wounds, and his mouth bruised with a stone, after which he was ironed and cast into prison. On the fourth day he was put on board a ship and sent into banishment. The ship was wrecked, and he so came to Mysia, thence to the shores of the Danube, and afterwards into Thrace.
Sixth Lesson
However, the devil in the temple of Serapis declared that he could not give oracles, while the disciple of the Apostle Peter abode in these parts, and after a long search Apollinaris was found and commanded again to take ship. Thus he went back to Ravenna, where he was denounced by the same idolatrous priests as before, and given into the keeping of a centurion.
This centurion was a secret worshipper of Christ, and in the night he let Apollinaris go. When it became known some of the officers of justice followed after him, caught him on the road, beat him till they thought he was dead, and left him. Some Christians took him up, but on the seventh day, still exhorting them to stand firm in the Faith, he departed this life with the glorious splendour of martyrdom. His body was buried hard by the wall of the city.
Seventh Lesson, St. Ambrose on Luke 22
"My kingdom," our God hath said, "is not of this world." Man, then, must strive, not to be equal with God, but to be like unto God. Christ alone is the full image of God, as being the brightness of His Father's glory, and the express image of His Person.
But the righteous man is made after the image of God, in so far as, for the sake of following the example of his God, he, through knowledge of God, setteth no esteem upon this world, and looketh down upon all carnal motions of the will, through having taken in that Word whereby we are fed unto life everlasting; and this is the end whereto we eat the Body of Christ, namely, that we may have eternal life.
Eighth Lesson
The reward which is promised unto us is not meat and drink, but a part in that grace and that life which come down from heaven. Neither are the twelve thrones to be understood as meaning chairs for bodies to sit in, but as meaning a dignity like that of God Himself, wherein they that have left all and followed Christ shall judge as Christ doth, not by dint of cross-examinations, but by simple knowledge of the heart, rewarding the good, and condemning the evil.
Thus are the Apostles erected into a ghostly tribunal, for the rewarding of faith and the cursing of unbelief, by their might breaking back errors, and laying upon blasphemers the just punishment of hatred.
Ninth Lesson
Let us, then, turn about, and look well to it that there be no strife among us, which of us shall be accounted the greatest. That this strife arose among the Apostles, is not an excuse but a caution for us.
If it was only after a while that Peter was converted, Peter, who had started up at the first command of the Lord, who can promise himself to be converted forthwith? Have a care, then, of boasting; have a care of the world. He who was commanded to strengthen his brethren was he who was able to say, "Behold, we have forsaken all, and have followed Thee."
Walk with the Church
The Church has already begun praying. Enter her prayer.
Today the Roman year keeps St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr. Receive the observance as the Church gives it: first understand what is commemorated, then let its doctrine and worship shape the day.
Roman Martyrology
July 23
The birthday of the holy bishop Apollinaris, who was consecrated at Rome by the apostle Peter, and sent to Kavenna, where he endured for the faith of Christ many different tribulations. He afterwards preached the Gospel in JEmilia, where he converted many from the worship of idols. Fianlly, returning to Kavenna, he terminated his confession of Christ by a glorious martyrdom under the Caesar Vespasian. — At Le Mans, in France, St. Liborius, bishop and confessor. — At Rome, St. Kasyphus, martyr. — In the same city, the martyrdom of St. Primitiva, virgin and martyr. — Also, the holy martyrs Apollonius and Eugenius. — The same day, the birthday of the holy martyrs Trophimus and Theophilus. who received their crown of martyrdom by being beaten with stones, scorched with fire, and finally struck with the sword, in the time of the emperor Diocletian. — In Bulgaria, many holy martyrs whom the impious emperor Nicephorus, whilst he was devastating the churches of God, put to death in various ways — by the sword, the halter, arrows, long imprisonment, and starvation. — At Rome, the saintly virgins Komula, Redempta, and Herundines, men tioned by pope St. Gregory in his writings. — In the same city, the departure from this life of St. Bridget, widow, whose sacred body was taken to Sweden on the 7th of October. Her feast is celebrated on the 8th of that month.
Learn from Today's Saint or Feast
St. Apollinaris
Bishop and martyr who preached the faith received from the apostles at Ravenna.
St. Apollinaris is venerated as the first bishop of Ravenna, an early shepherd whose preaching of Christ brought persecution and suffering.
Tradition remembers repeated trials, banishment, and wounds borne for the Gospel. His feast teaches that apostolic ministry is not religious management: the bishop is called to preach, suffer, and guard souls.
Ask St. Apollinaris to intercede for the Church's shepherds in exile, and for souls who must recognize true pastoral witness beneath suffering.
The Pilgrim's Spiritual Conference
Mary Is Mother of God and Mother of the Faithful
Remain here for a little while. The purpose is not to gather another fact, but to allow today's Catholic truth to judge the heart, strengthen the will, and become an act offered to God.
The Church places this truth before you today: The Blessed Virgin Mary is truly Mother of God, and her maternal office belongs to the order of Christ's Incarnation, Passion, and grace. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. Marian doctrine protects the truth about Christ: one divine Person, truly God and truly man, born of the Virgin Mother.
The grace to be practiced is Pastoral courage, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Imitate Mary's purity: not merely freedom from grave stain, but an undivided heart that refuses whatever competes with God.
There is also an enemy to recognize: Resist every thin devotion that praises Mary while separating her from doctrine, sacrifice, and the life of grace. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing pastoral courage when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.
Do the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. In temptation, do not debate with the tempter. Call upon Jesus and Mary, turn from the occasion, and perform the next duty. Keep this act pure in intention: for God's glory and the good of souls, not for praise, control, or appearance.
The Church's witness
This truth manifests the Church's mark of holy. The witness placed beside it today is St. Cyril of Alexandria.
Your resolution before God
Pray for true shepherds and state necessary Catholic truths calmly despite fear of opposition.
A true shepherd does not stop strengthening the flock because truth has brought wounds.
Carry this word quietly. Return to it when distraction, temptation, or discouragement begins to scatter the soul.
The Little Rule of Fidelity
Keep the day within prayer.
These anchors do not change because the soul needs a stable rule more than a daily novelty. Open them when you are learning the rule or when your ordinary prayer has begun to loosen.
Show today's prayer and duty anchors
Begin with morning prayer
Adore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.
Keep the Angelus
Pause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.
Seek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament
Attend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Return to Jesus and Mary
Use frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.
Pray the Rosary
Keep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.
End with night prayer and examen
Give thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.
The Pilgrim's Mirror
How shall I imitate Christ today?
“Regard not much who is with thee, nor who is against thee, but be this thy greatest study, that God may be with thee.”
Human approval is a poor compass. With Mary, seek first to be faithful to Jesus Christ and His Church, whether praise follows or not.
The desire to be supported can subtly alter judgment before you notice it. It softens a necessary word, delays a duty, or makes loneliness appear to be proof that fidelity was mistaken. Examine the act by Catholic truth and your real obligations; then leave the company or opposition of men in God's hands.
Today's Practice
Perform right acts without checking whether anyone noticed.
Before Night Falls
Return the completed day to God.
Give thanks before measuring the day by feeling or visible success. Ask light to see faults without discouragement, make an Act of Contrition, forgive injuries, and place tomorrow beneath divine Providence.
Ask where curiosity, vanity, or impurity entered today. Place the fault beneath Christ's mercy and make a definite guard for tomorrow.
- For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?
- What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?
- What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?
Go Now, Pilgrim
Walk faithfully. Pray attentively. Bear your cross willingly. Love God above all things.
When this day is finished, may you have laid one more stone in the City of God.
You do not walk alone: remain beside the Blessed Virgin as she leads you toward her Divine Son and the Heavenly Jerusalem.
God willing, we shall meet again at tomorrow's pilgrimage.
Source notes for this pilgrimage
Martyrology: The Roman Martyrology, Baltimore, 1916, John Murphy Company; local raw text lines 7499-7534.
- Saint witness: St. Andrew Daily Missal, July 23.
- Saint witness: Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, July 23.
- Breviary witness: Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for July 23, St. Apollinaris.
- Breviary witness: Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, July 23.
- Matins lesson: The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. III, Summer, Second and Third Nocturns for St. Apollinaris, lessons iv-ix.
- Matins lesson: Bute 1908 is used here as an accessible pre-Pius X Breviary witness and is cited distinctly from the 1936-1937 Benziger / Burns Oates edition.
Pilgrim's Mirror: Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, translated by Richard Whitford, edited by Wilfrid Raynal, O.S.B. (Mount Vernon, N.Y.: Peter Pauper Press, c. 1947). Today's passage is at Book II, chapter 2, p. 55.
Marian formation: St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, translated by Fr. Frederick William Faber, 1941 Company of Mary edition, imprimatur September 26, 1949. Today's passage is at True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 259. The supplied 2010 PDF is used only as a digital transcription of that pre-1955 edition.
- Devotional rhythm: St. Andrew Daily Missal, Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B., 1953 edition; proper Mass or devotion named in this entry.
- Devotional rhythm: 1 Peter 1:18-19, Douay-Rheims.
- Devotional rhythm: 1 Corinthians 11:23-29, Douay-Rheims.
- Faith point: Council of Ephesus, dogma of Theotokos.
- Faith point: St. Cyril of Alexandria, writings against Nestorius.
- Marian atmosphere and imitation: Luke 1:38, 46-49; Luke 2:19; John 2:5; John 19:25-27; and John 3:30, Douay-Rheims.
- Authority and revolt: Exodus 5:2, Douay-Rheims.
- Daily examen: St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, Particular and Daily Examen.