I had her relic with me and saw the city where she was martyred (Alexandria). It is situated on a promontory, not far from the many mouths through which the Nile flows into the sea. It is a large and beautiful city, in which Apollonia's house, surrounded by courtyards and gardens, stands on a high small square. At the time of her martyrdom she was already a widow, advanced in years, but of beautiful presence. Her parents were pagans; but from her infancy she was already a Christian, owing to a nanny of hers who was secretly a Christian. When she grew in years she was given by her parents in marriage to a pagan husband and lived with him in the paternal house. She suffered much and conjugal life was a severe trial for her. I have seen her lying on the ground, weeping, praying, and covering her head with ashes. Her husband was rather emaciated and pale, and died long before her. She lived thirty years afterward as a widow, without children. She showed great mercy toward the poor, who were secretly Christians, and was the comfort and hope of all those in need. Her nurse had suffered martyrdom long before her. This occurred on the occasion of a riot, during which the houses of Christians were ransacked and burned, and many were killed.
I later saw how Apollonia, by order of the judge, was taken from her house, led to the praetorium, and put in a prison. I saw her later before the judge, horribly mistreated on account of her eloquent words about Christianity. It was a heart-wrenching sight to see her, while I was able to attend other martyrdoms with relative calmness. Perhaps it was her age and noble presence that moved me so much. They whipped her with rods, wounded her in the face and head with stones. Her nose was crushed and deformed; blood ran in torrents from her head; her cheeks and chin were torn apart, and her teeth pulled from her mouth. She wore that white tunic open at the sides, which I often see worn by Christians; underneath she had a red wool tunic. She was seated on a backless stone with her hands tied behind her back to that stone and her feet bound. Her veil had been torn and removed, and her long hair hung loose over her shoulders. Her countenance was altered, deformed by the blows and covered in blood. One executioner held her from behind, twisting her head, while another forcibly opened her already mangled mouth with a kind of lead vice. Then the executioner destroyed her teeth one by one with pincers, and with the teeth tore away pieces of her cheeks. During the martyrdom I saw Apollonia suffer to the point of fainting, while angels and other martyr souls, as well as the appearance of Jesus, strengthened and comforted her. Through her prayers and sufferings she obtained the grace of being the helper of all who suffer from toothaches and pain in the face.
As she did not cease praising Jesus Christ on the other hand, despising the offerings to the pagan gods, the judge ordered that she be taken to the pyre and that, if she did not change her sentiments, she be thrown into it. She could no longer walk by herself, as she was half dead. Two executioners dragged her, supporting her under the arms, and led her toward a high and flat place where a great fire burned in a pit. When she stood before it, she seemed to ask for something in prayer. She could no longer hold her head upright. The pagans believed she wanted to renounce Christ or that she at least wavered in her convictions, and left her for a moment. She fell to the ground and seemed about to die. She was praying instead; she suddenly stood up and threw herself into the middle of the flames.
I have seen, during her martyrdom, many poor people lamenting, wringing their hands and crying out for losing the one who for so long had shown them charity. By herself she could not have leaped into the flames. From God came the strength and the impulse. I saw that she was not consumed in the fire, but only burned. The pagans moved away from that place when they saw her dead, and the Christians approached, secretly took the body away, and buried it in an underground vault.
(*) In the Roman Martyrology and in the Legenda Aurea she appears as a virgin (ch. 66), although already of advanced age. The visionary sees her as a widow and explains that she had been one for a long time; that is why she was generally considered unmarried. The torment of pulling out her teeth is described by the visionary in detail. In a woodcut from the year 1450 the saint holds pincers in her hands, and in another from 1488 she appears bound to a column while the executioner violently pulls out her teeth.