{"id":110540,"date":"2026-07-20T09:09:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T16:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=110540"},"modified":"2026-07-20T09:10:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T16:10:33","slug":"saint-apollinaris-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saint-apollinaris-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"The Poetry of Apollo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

F<\/span>ifty-seven years ago today, on July 20, 1969, human beings first set foot upon the Moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mother claims I watched the landing at the tender age of two, hiding underneath the coffee table. If so, I don’t remember it. My lovely bride Francine, however, did. Her birthday is July 21, and she clearly remembered having a lunar module on her birthday cake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have had a life-long fascination with space exploration. Humanity must become a multi-planet species. From the purely practical point, it’s a silly idea to keep all your eggs in one basket. On the theological level, God clearly tells us humans to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28), and at some point we’re going to run out of room on just one planet. It’s simple math.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The project that took us to the Moon was called Apollo<\/em>, ostensibly after the Greek god associated with hunting, harmony, and healing. Perhaps the folks over at NASA had sense of humour, or maybe God the poet was at work again, for July 20 is also the memorial of Saint Apollinaris.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a>
Mosaic of Saint Apollinaris <\/em>
at the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare <\/em>
in Classe, Ravenna<\/em><\/mark><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Saint Apollinaris was born in Antioch, where he was ordained a Bishop by Saint Peter. He served as a missionary in eastern Italy during the reign of the Emperor Claudius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He became Bishop of Ravenna, a city of perhaps 30,000 people which would eventually become the capital of the Western Empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apollinaris quickly made a name for himself as a healer. His name may have had something to do with it – it’s probably easier to remember a healer named after a healing god than, say, a healer named Plutonius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many miracles were ascribed to him, which brought him to the attention of the Imperial authorities. He was exiled, tortured, and imprisoned for the faith. After several rounds of this, he was martyred, probably by being run through with a sword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This optional memorial is relatively new to the USA liturgical calendar. It was dropped from the General Roman Calendar during the calendar reforms in 1968, just a year before Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. Apparently, Apollinaris wasn’t going to take his holiday’s removal lying down!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am often amused by God’s poetry, facilitated no doubt in this case by folks who saw the connections and ran with them.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fifty-seven years ago today, on July 20, 1969, human beings first set foot upon the Moon. My mother claims I watched the landing at the tender age of two, hiding underneath the coffee table. If so, I don’t remember it. My lovely bride Francine, however, did. Her birthday is July 21, and she clearly remembered having a lunar module on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46,8,7,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-annual","category-francine-my-love","category-history","category-saint"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/IMG_3519-e1500573106297.jpg?fit=2448%2C3264&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-sKU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":110543,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/happy-birthday-francine-2026\/","url_meta":{"origin":110540,"position":0},"title":"Happy Birthday, Francine","author":"Thom","date":"21 July 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Francine's second birthday since she passed to the Lord. No, I don't understand it either. It was our custom to celebrate her birthday with a dinner at some new place we hadn't tried before. In 2023, we had her birthday dinner at a local tapas place called Amor. 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Last year, when she turned 62, having been born in 1962, she proclaimed that it was going to be her year. She called it her \"golden year\". Maybe it was. This is the year that she was swept up in the arms of Jesus. I have no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/36475810_10155614137330382_2866939563987697664_n.jpg?fit=1080%2C1076&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/36475810_10155614137330382_2866939563987697664_n.jpg?fit=1080%2C1076&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/36475810_10155614137330382_2866939563987697664_n.jpg?fit=1080%2C1076&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/36475810_10155614137330382_2866939563987697664_n.jpg?fit=1080%2C1076&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/36475810_10155614137330382_2866939563987697664_n.jpg?fit=1080%2C1076&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":89760,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/blogging-the-camino\/","url_meta":{"origin":110540,"position":2},"title":"Blogging the Camino","author":"Thom","date":"06 July 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"When Francine and I finished our Camino in 2016, I began a project on my Camino blog to post the best of my Camino photos, one day at a time. The \"Camino Photo of the Day\" project has been running since July 6 of 2016, so today marks its two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/27825974510_ffc6a7fcfe_k.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/27825974510_ffc6a7fcfe_k.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/27825974510_ffc6a7fcfe_k.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/27825974510_ffc6a7fcfe_k.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3750,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/glorious\/","url_meta":{"origin":110540,"position":3},"title":"Glorious!","author":"Thom","date":"04 June 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Last weekend, we threw a surprise birthday party for Francine. She's very clever, so we had to take some care in making sure she woudn't find out. We figured the only way we could throw a surprise birthday party for Francine's big 50 was to hold it seven weeks early\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/fmparty.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":109714,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/a-different-assumption\/","url_meta":{"origin":110540,"position":4},"title":"A Different Assumption","author":"Thom","date":"15 August 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year on this date, my beautiful bride Francine and I celebrated our twentieth Catholic anniversary. For that anniversary, I wrote an article called \"How the Assumption Saved my Life\", which delved into the history and meaning of this date for Francine and me. Why \"Catholic anniversary\"? On the 15th\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/462588746_10160433017090382_7755078612534786218_n.jpg?fit=360%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":109625,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/francines-funeral\/","url_meta":{"origin":110540,"position":5},"title":"Francine’s Funeral","author":"Thom","date":"26 June 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Francine's funeral arrangements are in place. Vespers for the Dead Vespers from the Office of the Dead will be sung for Francine on Thursday, 10 July, 2025 at 6:30 pm Pacific Time at Saint Patrick Church in Tacoma. The principal celebrant will be our friend, the Rev. Jacob Maurer. 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