Sts. Denis and Companions

St. Denis and his Companions were martyrs of the third century honored as founders of the Church of Paris. According to the historian Gregory of Tours, Denis (Dionysius) was one of several bishops sent from Rome to evangelize Gaul around the middle of the third century; he established the Christian community at Lutetia, the future Paris, of which he is venerated as the first bishop.

In the persecution of the emperor Decius, or shortly after, Denis was seized together with the priest Rusticus and the deacon Eleutherius and, after imprisonment and torture, all three were beheaded on the hill north of the city that came to be called Montmartre, the "mount of martyrs." A cherished legend tells that the decapitated bishop rose and carried his own head some distance while praising God, marking the site where the great abbey of Saint-Denis would later rise. Patron of Paris and of France, Denis is commemorated with his companions on 9 October.