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(Acts 17: 15-34), one of the skeptical philosophers converted by Paul during a
proselytizing visit to Athens. 418
The second of the three, Saint Denis, is supposed to have been sent to Gaul as a
missionary in the third century, where he was martyred in Paris at Montmartre, probably
around 250. In some versions of the story, a pious woman rescued the saint’s body and
buried it at what is now the site of the cathedral of St. Denis. 419 In another version, Denis
is beheaded at Montmartre, which, as the legend has it, is inconveniently located several
miles from the site of St. Denis. 420 So, Denis miraculously picked up his severed head
and walked to his chosen burial place (being the most famous of the cephalophorus
saints), singing hymns of praise as he went. Protected and promoted by noble and royal
patrons, 421 Denis’ shrine quickly became a basilica that drew many pilgrims.
As for the other Dionysius (the pseudonymous one), his writings made their way
to the West as early as 649, 422 but the copy of his works that resulted in his wide renown
arrived in 827, when a volume of his works was gifted to King Louis the Pious by a
418 The context of the passage is a visit by the Apostle Paul to Athens. He initially tries to convert
Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, who then bring him to speak at the Areopagus. Paul’s speech to the
Areopagites is perhaps the reason the author of the CD picked Dionysius as his pseudonym. That is, Paul
opens by referring to the altar “to an unknown god” he spotted on his way (the altar existing to ensure that
no god was left unworshipped, even gods as yet unkown), and uses it to accuse the Athenians of
worshipping in ignorance, which he has come to dispell: “in the past God overlooked such ignorance, but
now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” (30) Some Athenians convert, “among them was
Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.” Perhaps it
is from Paul’s accusation that the Athenians are “ignorant of the very thing [they] worship” that the author
was inspired to write about the via negativa under the name of one who converted upon hearing those
words. See also Charles M. Stang, "Dionysius, Paul and the Significance of the Pseudonym," Modern
Theology 24, no. 4 (October 2008): 541-555.
419 Waldman, 557.
420 Ibid.
421 The first of whom is Paris’ other patron saint, Genevieve, member of a “grand lignage noble germanique”
and of “dignitaires gallo-romains importants,” who began building a place of worship on the site of Denis’
grave in the middle of the 5 th century (the exact date is disputed). Geneviève was said to be passionately
devoted to Denis, and was a forceful champion of her building project, which she finances by commanding
the priests of Paris to come up with the requisite funding amongst themselves. The basilica later functioned
as the focus of her campaign to rally the Christians of Paris against paganism. Roger and Pierre de Peretti
Bourderon, Histoire de Saint-Denis (Toulouse: Editions Privat, 1988), 62-63.
422 Luscombe, 134.
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