The holy, glorious and right-victorious Hieromartyr (one who dies for his beliefs who was a bishop or priest) Dionysius the Areopagite (also Dionysios or Denys) was baptized by Saint Paul in Athens (read of him in the Acts when Paul went to the area of Greece. This part protestants don't get. If he wrote to those in Greece, why would he write in Hebrew?! They think those Epistles, Ephesians, Collossians, Corinthians, Thessolians, etc. were in that language.) He is numbered among the Seventy Apostles. His feast day is celebrated on October 9th in the Western Church. It is October in the Eastern.
Prior to his baptism, Dionysius grew up in a notable family in Athens, attended philosophical school at home and abroad, was married and had several children, and was a member of the highest court in Greece, the Areopagus. After his conversion to the True Faith, St. Paul made him Bishop of Athens.
His mind had already been prepared to receive the good tidings of the Gospel by the miraculous darkness which overspread the earth at the moment of Our Lord's death on the cross. He was at that time at Heliopolis, in Egypt. On beholding the sun obscured in the midst of its course, and this without apparent cause, he is said to have exclaimed: "Either the God of nature is suffering, or the world is about to be dissolved." When St. Paul preached before the Areopagus in Athens, Dionysius easily recognized the truth and readily embraced it.
Eventually he left his wife and children for Christ and went with St. Paul in missionary travel to visit the places hallowed by the footsteps and sufferings of our Redeemer, and there met the Apostles St. Peter and St. James, the evangelist St. Luke, and other holy apostolic men.. He travelled to Jerusalem specifically to see the Most Holy Theotokos and writes of his encounter in one of his books. He also had the happiness to see and converse with the Blessed Virgin Mary, and was so overwhelmed by her presence that he declared, that if he knew not Jesus to be God, he would consider her divine. He was also present at her Dormition (the 'falling asleep' or death, of our Blessed Mother).
Seeing St. Paul martyred in Rome, St. Dionysius desired to be a martyr as well. He went to Gaul, along with his presbyter Rusticus and the deacon Eleutherius, to preach the Gospel to the barbarians. There his suffering was equalled only by his success in converting many pagans to Christianity. (Since he went to Gaul, this is probably why France has 'St. Denis' as their Patron Saint.)
He is also one of those in the picture I have for my screen saver. The upper left is St. Dionysius; the upper right is St. Thomas Aquinas; Lower left is St. Dominic; lower right is Pope St. Clement. I believe it is called 'The Enthronement of the Virgin'. Dionysius and Clement have marks on their hands, which I take to mean that they were martyrs, which they were. Notice that Dionysius and Clement are looking at us, while Thomas and Dominic are looking at each other. I take these things to mean that we are to look towards others of the Faith while praying for the Church and preserving it. (I don't know; it's just me I guess)
Let's end with some words of St. Dionysius:
"By the holy love which draws us to Him, Jesus calms the tempest of distracting cares; and recalling our souls to the unity of the divine life, He confirms us in the permanent fruitfulness of this noble ministry. Soon, by the exercise of the sacred functions, we draw nigh to the angels, striving to set ourselves, like them, in the fixed state of unchangeable holiness. Thence, gazing upon the divine splendors of the blessed Jesus, and enriched with the profound knowledge of mystical contemplation, we become fitted to be ourselves consecrated in order that we may consecrate it, to become perfect in order to lead others to perfection."
Prayer in Honor of St. Dionysius
O God, who didst confer Thy saving faith on the people of France through Thy holy bishop and martyr Dionysius, and didst glorify him before and after his martyrdom by many miracles; grant us through his intercession that the Faith practised and preached by him be our light on the way of life, so that we may be preserved from all anxieties of conscience, and if by human frailty we have sinned, we may return to Thee speedily by true penance. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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