St. Denis, bishop and martyr (October 9th)

Of the various saints and commemorations that we celebrate this week:

October 6 - St. Bruno, priest

October 6 - Bl. Marie-Rose Durocher, virgin

October 7 - Our Lady of the Rosary

October 9 - St. Denis, bishop, and companions, martyrs

October 9 - St. John Leonardi, priest

October 11 - St. John XXIII, pope

October 12 - Twenty-eight Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)


I’ve decided to write about the about St. Denis.  


Two things that are important to keep in mind when considering St. Denis  The first is that he is an early Saint, that is to say, from Roman times.  Second, is that he was martyred a relatively distant part of the Roman Empire, near today’s Paris, France.  So much of what has been written about him is legendary.


The earliest mention of St. Denis was made by St. Gregory of Tours (who lived between 538 - 593 AD).  He wrote in his History of the Franks, I,30: “Blessed Dionysius, bishop of Paris, having suffered various punishments for the name of Christ, ended his present life with the sword." 


A more developed legend, the Passion of St. Dionysius Rusticus and Eleutherius [Lat-Orig, Eng-Esp-Trans] attributed to the poet-Church father St. Venantius Fortunatus dates back to 600 AD.  In this legend, the three settled on what is today called the île de la cité, one of the two islands on the Seine River around which Paris came to be built and built a church there.  The city was described as being something a trading post between Germans and nobility (Romans) of the time.  


The success of their mission eventually brought attention of the still pagan authorities.  The three were arrested, tortured and finally beheaded.  Apparently as they were beheaded the the three still called out of their faith and thus it appeared that their tongue and lips were still moving, proclaiming their faith after their heads were severed.  


This became important because part of the popular legend of St. Denis that came to be was that after he was beheaded some distance outside of Paris, he picked himself up and carried his head in his arms back to town.  


Subsequently ,St. Denis’ legend grew.  


Since Dionysius was actually a Greek name (Dionysius was the God of Wine in Greco-Roman Mythology), by late medieval times, in the Golden Legend, or Lives of the Saints by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, written in 1275, first edition published in 1470, the life of St. Denis (Vol. 5, pg 160) has him first converted and baptized by the Apostle St. Paul in Athens at the Areopagus (cf Acts 17:16–34) before going to Rome, getting ordained bishop and after the imprisonment of St. Paul and St. Peter by Nero, heading out with companions Rusticus (a priest), and Eleutheus (an archdeacon), to Gaul today’s France) and eventually settling by today’s Paris where he was martyred.


Thus it is clear that the legend of St. Denis has “grown” over the centuries.  Still he is remembered as the founding bishop of the Church in Paris, France, and that along with his companions he was the city’s first martyrs.


We remember his bravery, and also his part in the growth of the Church across all the world.


St. Denis, bishop and martyr, pray for us!

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