Sacred Calendar
The Roman year ordered for memory, penance, feasts, saints, and the daily pilgrimage of the faithful.
Calendar standard
Pre-1955 Roman usage
The calendar follows the universal Roman year under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X, with the Roman Martyrology preserved as a distinct daily witness.
The day is presented for prayer, recollection, study, and perseverance in the City.
Daily observance
Today in the City of God
The Church keeps this day in holy time. The Pilgrim's Companion gathers the feast, daily quote, Martyrology, meditation, prayer, and related chapters into one daily path through the City.
Choose a date
Daily observance
St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr
Thursday, July 23, 2026
Season: Time after Pentecost
The day is set within the Roman year so its feast, Martyrology, daily quote, prayer, and reading path may be received together without blurring their proper sources.
Today's pilgrimage
St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr
Rank: Double
Color: red
Commemoration: St. Liborius, Bishop and Confessor.
Quote for the day
Pope Clement XIII
“Reveal to the faithful the wolves which are demolishing the Lord's vineyard.”
Christianae Reipublicae, 1766
Roman Martyrology
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.
Highlighted saint
St. Apollinaris
Bishop and martyr, apostolic witness 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.
Virtue to practice
Pastoral courage.
Error to resist
The comfortable shepherding that avoids suffering for truth.
For the pilgrim in exile
Ask St. Apollinaris to intercede for the Church's shepherds in exile, and for souls who must recognize true pastoral witness beneath suffering.
Imitate today
- Pray for true bishops and faithful shepherds.
- Bear witness to Christ when faith costs something.
- Reject the idea of shepherding without sacrifice.
Sources
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, July 23.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, July 23.
From Matins
The disciple of Peter sent to Ravenna.
Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr
Roman Breviary and St. Ambrose, Proper lessons for St. Apollinaris and Homily on St. Luke
“Still exhorting them to stand firm in the Faith.”
Doctrine taught
- 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.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not stop exhorting souls because wounds have come. St. Apollinaris teaches apostolic endurance, episcopal courage, and firmness when false worship resists the Gospel.
Sources
- The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. III, Summer, Second and Third Nocturns for St. Apollinaris, lessons iv-ix.
- 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.
Breviary Witness
Apostolic preaching sealed by martyrdom.
Matins - St. Apollinaris
Breviary witness
- The Breviary remembers St. Apollinaris as the first bishop of Ravenna, an early shepherd whose apostolic labor was joined to suffering for Christ.
- His feast keeps before the Church the cost of planting the faith where pagan power resists the Gospel.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not imagine that apostolic work is proved false because it meets opposition. The seed of the Church has often been watered by endurance.
Sources
- Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for July 23, St. Apollinaris.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, July 23.
Meditation
The Church Made Public
Pentecost teaches that the Holy Ghost does not create private religious enthusiasm detached from doctrine, worship, and authority. He gathers, sends, teaches, and strengthens the visible Church. The remnant must therefore seek fire without disorder and zeal without novelty.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
Prayer
The day should become prayer.
O Lord, strengthen the little duties of this day with Thy grace, that nothing entrusted to me may be wasted through negligence or vanity.
Thought for the pilgrim
Grace is guarded by ordinary fidelity.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Fulfill one ordinary duty promptly and offer it for the glory of God.
Source notes
Universal Roman Calendar under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X
Fasting and abstinence according to the laws observed in 1952
Daily quotations and pilgrimage excerpts should come from Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, saints, traditional popes before 1958, traditional catechisms, approved devotional works, or received liturgical texts.
The Roman Martyrology, Baltimore, 1916, published by John Murphy Company; the local 1916 text is displayed and traceable to its source lines.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.