St. Denis and Companions
Feast day: Oct. 9
According to St. Gregory of Tours, Denis, the first bishop of Paris, was martyred with Rusticus, a priest, and Eleutherius, a deacon, in the mid-third century. The Italian-born Denis and several other bishops were sent by the pope to evangelize Gaul (France). Denis and his companions succeeded in spreading the Gospel from an island in the Seine, but were arrested during a persecution by Roman Emperor Decius and were beheaded. The bodies of the martyrs were rescued from the Seine River and buried. A chapel erected over their remains became the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Denis. Denis is the patron saint of France.
Collect
O God, who sent Saint Denis and his companions
to preach your glory to the nations
and strengthened them for their mission
with the virtue of constancy in suffering,
grant, we pray, that we may imitate them
in disdaining prosperity in this world
and in being undaunted by any trial.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
