The humor of the Saints

Some Saints I like because of the example of their lives. Others I like because of their profound writings. Other Saints I like because they have an amusing tale connected to them. Take Saint Denis, for example, whose memorial we celebrate today.

Saint Denis (d. ca. 258) was sent by Pope Fabian to preach the Gospel in the Roman Province of Gaul around A.D. 250. Upon his arrival he built a church on an island in the River Seine and, with the help the priest Rusticus and the deacon Eleutherius, evangelized so powerfully that he was soon arrested and beheaded.

The three bodies were then thrown into the river, collected by their followers who then erected the church of Saint Denis, the resting place of the French monarchy.

The Legend says that after he was beheaded, Saint Denis' corpse picked up the head and carried it some distance before finally dying. The stories rarely get better than this!