[Rank]
S. Dionysii Episcopi, Rustici and Eleutherii Martyrum;;Semiduplex;;2;;vide C3

[Rule]
vide C3;
9 lectiones

[Oratio]
O God, Who, as upon this day, didst make thy blessed Witness and Bishop Denys~
strong to wrestle and to suffer, and Who wast pleased to give unto him, for~
fellow workers in declaring thy glory among the heathen, thy servants Rusticus~
and Eleutherius, grant unto us, we beseech thee, to be like unto them in~
esteeming the good things of this world but lightly, and in fearing not at all~
the evil things of the same.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
Denys 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, Denys 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. (Acts xvii. 3234)

[Lectio5]
Denys 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 hided with rods by command~
of Fescennius the Praefect, and, forasmuch as he still went on bravely preaching~
Christ, he was tortured with fire upon a grating, and put to divers other~
torments, and his comrades likewise.

[Lectio6]
They bore their torments bravely and cheerfully, and then Denys, being over an~
hundred years of age, and his two comrades with him, suffered by the axe upon~
the 9th day of October. This is that Denys 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 divers others.
