Feast of St. Denis

 

Pope Fabian (236-250AD) sent St. Denis to Gaul (France) to restore some sense of order to the Church, which was suffering under the Emperor Decius. He settled on an island in the Seine River near Paris.

Decius had mandated that everyone must convert to Paganism, forcing them to offer a sacrifice or burn incense to the Pagan gods - or die. Instead, Denis (with his trusty sidekicks, Rusticus and Eleutherius) began converting the pagans. This didn't sit well with the local pagan "priests" who arranged to have the three scourged, imprisoned, racked, thrown to wild beasts, burned, and finally beheaded.

Legend has it that St. Denis picked up his head and walked some distance to the place he had chosen to be buried. A basilica and Benedictine monastery were eventually built over the burial site (the building of the basilica was begun by St. Genevieve). He is the Patron Saint of France. He is also the patron saint of headache sufferers (NO! REALLY!).

He is often depicted in art holding his head. So let's say you were drawing a picture of St. Denis...where would you put the halo? Over the head in his hands, or where the head used to be? The Church is strangely silent on this issue...