Saturday, Oct. 9, 27th Week in Ordinary Time
Most depictions of St. Denis show him carrying his head. Third from left, Last Communion (left panel) and Execution of St. Denis (right panel); and next to it, St. Denis with Rusticus and Eleutherius.
ST. DENIS & COMPANIONS (d Paris ca 250), Martyrs
St. Denis was a bishop sent from Rome to Gaul (Roman France) to re-Christianize Lutetia (ancient Paris) which had fallen back to paganism after the persecutions of Decian. he is generally considered the first Bishop of Paris. According to legend, Denis so alarmed the pagan kings by his conversions that he and his inseparable companions, Rusticus, a priest, and Eleutherius, a deacon, were beheaded on the hill now called Montmartre ('mount of martyrs'). After being beheaded, Denis is said to have picked up his head and walked with it, preaching, until he finally died at the spot where centuries later St. Genevieve would build the basilica in his name - the Church where the Kings of France have been buried since Carolingian times. St. Denis is the patron saint of Paris. He is also one of the fourteen Holy Helpers, a group of saints popular in the Middle Ages as intercessors for various causes. Denis is invoked particularly against diabolical possession and headaches. His feast has been celebrated since the 9th century.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/100910.shtml
Today is also the first celebration of the feast day of Blessed John Henry Newman. [See earlier post above.]
Unusually, the Vatican has not yet posted the OR for today.
THE POPE'S DAY
The Holy Father met today with
- H.E. Ivo Josipović, President of the Republic of Croatia, with his wife and delegation
- Officers of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops led by Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago
and USCCB President
- Participants of the Study Conference sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts on the
20th anniversary of the Code of Canon Law for the Oriental Churches. Address in Italian.
And in the afternoon with
- Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (weekly meeting).
The Press Office announced a briefing on Tuesday, Oct. 12, by Mons. Rino Fisichella to present the Holy Father's
Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio
Ubicumque et sempre (Everywhere and always) creating the Pontifical Council
for New Evangelization, of which he will be the first president.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/10/2010 17:01]