# Matins Nocturn 2 reading for St. Dionysius, Bishop, and Companions,
# Martyrs (Oct 9) — pre-1955-but-post-1617. Plain Sancti/10-09.txt is a
# different, later saint (St. John Leonardi, canonized 1938) who
# displaced Dionysius on the general calendar's own Oct 9 slot; his
# content survives at the suffixed sibling file (see memory
# vu-matins-pre1955-saints's "critical wrinkle").
# web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/10-09t.txt, English/Sancti/10-09t.txt.
# Lectio4-6 is this saint's own proper text, one continuous vita
# account, no internal break, combined into a single reading. No
# responsory given.
id: ss-dionysius-and-companions
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Dionysius Atheniensis, unus ex Areopagitis judicibus, vir fuit omni doctrinæ genere
        instinctus. Qui cum adhuc in Gentilitatis errore versaretur, eo die quo Christus Dominus
        cruci affixus est, solem præter naturam defecisse animadvertens, exclamasse traditur: Aut
        Deus naturæ patitur, aut mundi machina dissolvetur. Sed cum Paulus Apostolus veniens Athenas,
        et in Areopagum ductus, rationem reddidisset ejus doctrinæ quam prædicabat, affirmans
        Christum Dominum resurrexisse, et mortuos omnes in vitam redituros esse: cum alii multi, tum
        ipse Dionysius in Christum credidit.


        Itaque et baptizatus est ab Apostolo, et Atheniensium ecclesiæ præfectus. Qui cum postea
        Romam venisset, a Clemente Pontifice missus est in Galliam prædicandi Evangelii causa. Quem
        Lutétiam usque Parisiorum Rusticus presbyter, et Eleutherius diaconus prosecuti sunt: ubi a
        Fescennio præfecto, quod multos ad christianam religionem convertisset, ipse cum sociis
        virgis cæsus est: cumque in prædicatione christianæ fidei constantissime perseveraret, in
        craticulam subjecto igne injicitur, multisque præterea suppliciis una cum sociis cruciatur.


        Sed ea tormentorum genera omnibus forti ac libenti animo perferentibus Dionysius annum agens
        supra centesimum, cum reliquis securi percutitur septimo Idus Octobris. De quo illud memoriæ
        proditum est, abscissum suum caput sustulisse, et progressum ad duo millia passuum in manibus
        gestasse. Libros scripsit admirabiles, ac plane cælestes, de divinis nominibus, de cælesti et
        ecclesiastica hierarchia, de mystica theologia, et alios quosdam.
      en: >-
        Denis was an Athenian, one of the Judges of the Court of the Areopagus, and a man of varied
        and deep learning. There is a story concerning him that on the day when the Lord Christ was
        nailed to the Cross, and when he saw the unnatural eclipse of the sun, Denis said: Either the
        God of nature is suffering, or the frame-work of the world is breaking up. When the Apostle
        Paul came to Athens, and was taken and brought unto the Areopagus, and gave an account of the
        faith which he preached, affirming that Christ had risen from the dead, and that all the dead
        likewise are to live again, some mocked, and others said: We will hear thee again of this
        matter. So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit, certain men clave unto him, and believed;
        among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite.


        Denis was baptized by the Apostle, and set over the Church of the Athenians. He came
        afterwards to Rome, and was sent by Pope Clement into Gaul, to preach the Gospel. There
        followed him to Paris one Rusticus a Priest, and Eleutherius a Deacon. He turned many to
        Christ, and was therefore beaten with rods by command of Fescennius the Prefect, and,
        forasmuch as he still went on bravely preaching Christ, he was tortured with fire upon a
        grating, and put to diverse other torments, and his comrades likewise.


        They bore their torments bravely and cheerfully, and then Denis, being over an hundred years
        of age, and his two comrades with him, suffered by the axe. This is that Denis concerning
        whom the old story is told that after his head was cut off he took it in his hands and
        walked two thousand paces, carrying it all the while. He was the author of some marvellous
        books, clear proofs of a mind fixed in heaven, upon The Names of God, upon The Orders in
        Heaven and in the Church, upon The Mystic Theology, and diverse others.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
