THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SAINT-DENIS BASILICA

 

THE LEGEND: THE CHURCH IS BUILT ON THE SITE WHERE SAINT DENIS* COLLAPSES AND DIES

(TOWARD 250)

   

*Christian missionary, first bishop of the Paris region, martyr 

Heights are often hallowed, and the site for beheading Denis and his two companions was a Roman shrine:

View of the Montmartre Hilltop (detail) by Lucien Marchais, 1902 / Sotheby's

Legend has him pick up his head and still preaching, continue along the path, a trade route:

Adapted from a Google ma

The hill appears in paintings about the event:

  The Crucifixion and Episodes of the Life of 

Saint Denis, retable of Saint Denis by 

Henri Bellechose, 1416,  zoom

He is shown holding his head in his hands:

Western tympanum, Saint-Denis basilica

Corey Frye

Facade of Notre-Dame Cathedral

Zoom (please scroll down)

Abbey of Saint-Germain, Auxerre

 Zoom

Church of the Holy Trinity, 9th, 19th century

 Impasse Girardon, 18e (near the Basilica) / Trip Advisor

A modern statue 

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Other tangible aspects of the legend: 

• Saint Denis's head in his hands: Decapitation is difficult and executioners might try a number of times before the head was actually severed

• The spot where Denis is said to have collapsed was a Gallo-Roman cemetery:

Saint-Denis, a Medieval Town (in French)

Gallo-Roman tombs found near the church.

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Another way in which the past lives on:

When in 2021 a royalist slapped President Macron while crying,

"Montjoie ! Saint-Denis! Down with the Macronie!," 

he was repeating the battle cry of France's medieval knights.

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Next,

Detour:

Right-wing extremists use medieval imagery