St. Denis's Day

St. Denis's Day

October 9Also known as St. Dionysius, St. Denis is the patron saint of France. According to legend, Pope Clement sent him to what is now France to establish the Church there, during the reign of Emperor Decius (249-251), but the pagans who greeted him did not treat him well. When he came to Paris as their first bishop, they threw him to the wild beasts, but the beasts licked his feet. Then they put him in a fiery furnace, but he emerged unharmed. The most widely repeated legend is that they beheaded him on Martyr's Hill—the place now known as Montmartre in Paris—but he miraculously picked up his head and carried it for two miles before expiring at the site where the Church of St. Denis was later built.
Denis has also been identified with St. Dionysius the Areopagite, legendarily portrayed as a convert of St. Paul.
SOURCES:
DaysCustFaith-1957, p. 253
OxYear-1999, p. 408
SaintFestCh-1904, p. 443