At times I get the feeling my actual birthday is 09th October simply because of St. Dennis. It probably was the most convenient name at that moment and was picked and given to me. Read on.
Denis, the first Bishop of France was a missionary Bishop sent to Gaul in the mid-third century, by Pope St Fabian also a martyr. At that time, Gaul had been evangelized only in small areas. The three companions, Bishop Denis, the priest Rusticus, and the deacon Eleutherius made their way north to a small Roman city called Lutetia, on the banks of the Seine River, where they served both native Romans and the Parisii, the local Gallic tribe. Denis and his companions settled on an island next to Lutetia, today known as Île de la Cité. It was the heart of Paris, the site of Notre Dame Cathedral, and the zero point from which all distances are measured in France. Denis and his companions, embodying the three Holy Orders, were successful enough to provoke the envy of pagan priests who convinced the local governor to imprison and torture them.
Tradition says that around 275 A.D., the martyrs were led to a pagan height overlooking Lutetia for their ritual beheading, thus lending the hill its name, Montmartre, or martyrs’ hill. After the sword dropped and Denis’ head separated from his torso, legend relates that he chose his own place of burial by walking, his head in his arms, from Montmartre to the present day site of the Basilica for which he is the eponym. After being beheaded, he carried his head in his arms and walked preaching forgiveness for his killers from the lips of his severed head. He walked seven miles from his execution site to his grave. A Church was built on the site of his grave and this church became the burial place of the kings of France, who strove to surpass each other in devotion to Paris’ patron.
Capital punishment is defined consciously or unconsciously, to the crime being punished. A heretic is burned, like his books, his flesh melting in the fires which replicate on earth those waiting for him in eternal damnation for having led the faithful astray. Death by drowning during the Reformation killed those who rejected or taught falsehoods concerning the saving waters of baptism.
Decapitation is the purest form of capital punishment, caput being Latin for “head.” The decapitation of a bishop, in particular, was meant to separate the head of the Church from its body, leaving the ship without its pilot. Saint John the Baptist, Saint Paul, Saint Cyprian, Pope Saint Sixtus II, were all Christian leaders who were all beheaded. The legend of Saint Denis is interesting but also profound.
Bishop Denis’ head is cut from his body but still united to it. Christ’s head can never be separated from His body the Church. Christ is one, head and body, and every Bishop stands in Christ’s stead to exercise the fullness of Christ’s priestly ministry to teach, govern, and sanctify the people of God. A shepherd always pastors a flock, a pilot always helms a ship, and a bishop always and always fathers a diocese. The bishop images Christ the head to the earthly members of Christ’s body.
Saint Denis and companions, pray for us. Happy feast day to all Denis
