9 October. 1662 Book of Common Prayer: Denys, Martyr & 3rd Century Missionary Bishop of Paris
9
October. 1662 Book of Common Prayer: Denys, Martyr & 3rd Century
Missionary Bishop of Paris
Confusion with Dionysus the
Areopagite
Depiction in art
Notes
Further
reading
External
links
Wiki-offerings.
According to Christian tradition, Saint Denis
(also called Dionysius, Dennis, or Denys) is a Christian martyr and saint. In the third century, he was Bishop of Paris. He was martyred in connection with the
Decian persecution of Christians, shortly after 250 AD. Denis is said to have picked his head up after
being decapitated, walked ten
kilometres (six miles), and preached a sermon the entire way, making him one of
many cephalophores in hagiology. He is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church as patron of Paris, France, and as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. The medieval and modern French name "Denis" derives from the
ancient name Dionysius.
Contents
·
6 Notes
Life
Gregory of Tours[3] states that Denis was bishop
of the Parisii and
was martyred by being beheaded by a sword. The earliest document giving an
account of his life and martyrdom, the "Passio SS. Dionysii Rustici et
Eleutherii" dates from c. 600, is mistakenly attributed to the poet Venantius Fortunatus, and is legendary. Nevertheless, it appears from the Passio that
Denis was sent from Italy to convert Gaul in the third century, forging a link with the "apostles to the
Gauls" reputed to have been sent out under the direction of Pope Fabian. This was after the persecutions under Emperor
Decius had all but dissolved the small Christian community at Lutetia.[4] Denis, with his inseparable
companions Rusticus and Eleutherius, who were martyred with him, settled on the
Île de la Cité in the River Seine. Roman Paris lay on the higher ground of
the Left Bank, away from the river.
Martyrdom
Denis, having alarmed the pagan priests by his many conversions,
was executed by beheading on the highest hill in Paris (now Montmartre), which was likely to have been a druidic holy place. The martyrdom of Denis and his companions is popularly
believed to have given the site its current name, derived from the Latin mons
martyrium "The Martyrs' Mountain",[1] although the name is
possibly derived from mons mercurei et mons martis, Hill of Mercury
and Mars.[5] After his head was chopped
off, Denis is said to have picked it up and walked ten kilometres (six miles)
from the summit of the hill, preaching a sermon the entire way, making him one of many cephalophores in hagiology. Of the many accounts of
this martyrdom, this is noted in detail in the Golden Legend and in Butler's Lives Of
The Saints.[6] The site where he stopped
preaching and actually died was marked by a small shrine that developed into
the Saint Denis Basilica, which became the burial place for the kings of France. Another account has his corpse being thrown into the Seine, but recovered and buried later that night by his converts.[2]
Veneration
Veneration of Saint Denis began soon after his death. The
bodies of Saints Denis, Eleutherius, and Rusticus were buried on the spot of
their martyrdom, where the construction of the saint's eponymous basilica was
begun by Saint Geneviève, assisted by the
people of Paris.[7] Her Vita Sanctae
Genovefae attests the presence of a shrine near the present basilica by the
close of the fifth century, though the names of Rusticus and Eleutherius are
non-historical.
Dagobert I, great-grandson of Chlothar I had the first
Royal Basilica built. The Merovingian tradition was originally to bury kings as
Clovis and Chlothildis in Paris, Abbey St-Genevieve/Genovefa as Clovis had
ordered its constructionm in 502 AD. Yet Chilperic I had his own mother Dowager
Queen Aregunda at Saint Denis. His grandson was clearly following afamily
tradition Aregunda (death about 580 AD) tomb was discovered in 1959 and her
burial items can be seen at Saint-Germain-en-Laye museum.
A successor church was erected by Fulrad, who became abbot in 749/50 and was closely linked with the accession of
the Carolingians to the Merovingian throne.
In time, the "Saint Denis", often
combined as "Montjoie! Saint Denis!" became the war-cry of the
French armies. The oriflamme, which became the standard
of France, was the banner consecrated upon his tomb. His veneration spread
beyond France when, in 754, Pope Stephen II, who was French, brought veneration of
Saint Denis to Rome. Soon his cultus was prevalent throughout
Europe.[7] Abbot Suger removed the relics of Denis, and those
associated with Rustique and Eleuthére, from the crypt to reside under the high
altar of the Saint-Denis he rebuilt, 1140-44.[8]
The feast of Saint Denis was added to the Roman Calendar in
the year 1568 by Pope Pius V, though it had been
celebrated since at least the year 800. St Denis' feast
day is celebrated on 9 October.[2]
In traditional Catholic practice, Saint Denis is honoured
as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Specifically, Denis is invoked against diabolical possession and headaches[9] and with Sainte Geneviève
is one of the patron saints of Paris.
Companions
9 October is celebrated as the feast of Saint Denis and
also of his companions, a priest named Rusticus and a deacon, Eleutherius, who were martyred alongside him and buried with him.
Confusion with Dionysus the
Areopagite
Since at least the ninth century, the legends of Dionysus the Areopagite and Denis of Paris have been often confused. Around 814, Louis the Pious brought certain writings attributed to
Dionysus the Areopagite to France, and since then it became common among the
French legendary writers to argue that Denis of Paris was the same Dionysus who
was a famous convert and disciple of Saint Paul.[7] The confusion of the
personalities of Saint Denis, Dionysus the Areopagite, and pseudo-Dionysius the
Areopagite, the author of the writings ascribed to Dionysius
brought to France by Louis, was initiated through an Areopagitica
written in 836 by Hilduin, Abbot of Saint-Denis, at
the request of Louis the Pious. "Hilduin was
anxious to promote the dignity of his church, and it is to him that the quite
unfounded identification of the patron saint with Dionysius the Areopagite and
his consequent connexion with the apostolic age are due."[10] Hilduin's attribution had
been supported for centuries by the monastic community at Abbey of Saint-Denis and one of origins of their pride. In Historia
calamitatum, Pierre Abelard gives a short account of the strength
of this belief and the monastery's harsh opposition to challenges to their
claim. Abelard jokingly pointed out a possibility that the founder of the Abbey
could have been another Dionysius, who is mentioned as Dionysius of Corinth by Eusebius. This irritated the community so much that eventually Abelard left in
bitterness. As late as the sixteenth century, scholars might still argue for an
Eastern origin of the Basilica of Saint-Denis: one was Godefroi Tillman, in a
long preface to a paraphrase of the Letters of the Areopagite, printed
in Paris in 1538 by Charlotte Guillard.[11] Historians today[12] do not dispute this point.[4]
Depiction in art
Denis' headless walk has led to his being depicted in art
decapitated and dressed as a Bishop, holding his own (often mitred) head in his hands.[7] Handling the halo in this circumstance poses a unique challenge for the artist. Some put the
halo where the head used to be; others have Saint Denis carrying the halo along
with the head. Even more problematic than the halo was the issue of how much of
his head Denis should be shown carrying. Throughout much of the Middle Ages,
the Abbey of St Denis and the canons of Notre-Dame Cathedral were in dispute over ownership of the saint's head. The Abbey claimed that
they had the entire body, whilst the Cathedral claimed to possess the top of
his head which, they claimed, had been severed by the executioner's first blow.[13] Thus while most depictions
of St Denis show him holding his entire head, in others, the patrons have shown
their support for the Cathedral's claim by depicting him carrying just the
crown of his skull, as, for example in the mid 13th century window showing the
story at Le Mans Cathedral (Bay 111).[14]
Notes
3.
Jump up ^ "Beatus Dionysius Parisiorum episcopus diversis pro
Christi nomine adfectus poenis praesentem vitam gladio immente finivit."
"History of the Franks I," 30.
4.
^ Jump up to: a b "St. Denis". The
Catholic Encyclopedia 4. Robert Appleton Company. 1908. Retrieved 2007-01-16.
6.
Jump up ^ This is the iconographic detail by which he may be
identified, whether in the thirteenth-century sculpture at the Musée de Cluny (illustration, in Veneration below) or in the nineteenth-century
figure in the portal of Nôtre Dame de Paris, part of Viollet-le-Duc's restorations (illustration, in infobox).
7.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Vadnal,
Jane (June 1998). "Images of Medieval
Art and Architecture: Saint Denis". Excerpt from
"Sacred and Legendary Art" by Anna Jameson, 1911. Retrieved 2007-01-16.
10.
Jump up ^ A. Hamilton Thompson, reviewing Sumner McKnight Crosby, The
Abbey of Saint-Denis, 475-1122. Vol. I, in The English Historical Review
58 No. 231 (July 1943:357-359) p 358.
11.
Jump up ^ "Georgii Pachymerae... Paraphrasis in decem Epistolas
B. Dionysii Arepagitae"; see Beatrice Beech, "Charlotte Guillard: A
Sixteenth-Century Business Woman," Renaissance Quarterly No. 36, 3 (Autumn
1983:345-367) p. 349.
12.
Jump up ^ Note that the source for this statement is not
contemporary, but is derived from the 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia.
13.
Jump up ^ See Gabriel Spiegel, The Cult of St Denis and Capetian
Kingship, in Saints and their Cults, Stephen Wilson (ed), 1985.
p.144ff
14.
Jump up ^ Whatling,
Stuart. "Photographs of Le
Mans Cathedral - Outer Clerestory Windows - Bay 111, Panel B5". Corpus
Narratologica. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
Further
reading
·
Drinkwater, J.F. (1987). The Gallic
Empire : separatism and continuity in the north-western provinces of the
Roman Empire, CE 260-274. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden. ISBN 3-515-04806-5.
·
Gregory of Tours (1988). Glory of the martyrs.
Raymond Van Dam, trans. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-85323-236-9.
·
Lacaze, Charlotte (1979). The "Vie de
Saint Denis" Manuscript. New York: Garland.
·
Van Dam, Raymond (1985). Leadership and
community in late antique Gaul. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-05162-9.
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