Opera Omnia; cum Scholiis S. Maximi et Paraphrasi Pachymerae

Are we then to think that this man arrived in Gaul during the reign of Decius to instill religion in uncultivated minds? In the third place follows Paul, the Prelate of Narbonne; regarding whom, if we wish to scrutinize the same monuments of antiquity and pore over the martyrologies, we shall find no mention of Decius, nor any association with our Dionysius in his travels. The ancient Roman [Martyrology] on the 22nd of March expressly designates him a disciple of the Apostles. Ado, in [his work] on the Festivals of the Apostles, [says]: The birthday of St. Paul, whom the blessed Apostles, having ordained him, sent to the city of Narbonne as Bishop. They record that this was the very same Sergius Paulus the Proconsul, a prudent man, from whom [the Apostle] Paul himself took his name because he had brought him under the faith of Christ; and who, having been left at the aforementioned city of Narbonne by the same holy Apostle when he was proceeding to Spain for the sake of preaching, was buried there, crowned and renowned for miracles, after fulfilling the office of preaching with no small diligence. The most illustrious Baronius has clothed and adorned this very history with the purple of his oratory; I shall by no means weave it into this present fabric, being content to have shown this one thing: that by the judgment of so many centuries and ages, by the testimony of the Martyrology, and by the consensus of illustrious writers, the opinion of Gregory of Tours has been cast aside and repudiated.

Next he enumerates Saturninus, regarding whom let us see what ancient memory proclaims. Indeed, the ancient Roman Martyrology is entirely silent, nor is he said to have been a disciple of our Dionysius in the life which Surius placed in volume six; furthermore, no Greek writer will be found who says that Saturninus, the companion of St. Dionysius, was the Bishop of Toulouse. Add to this that no one records that he met his death under Fescenninus Sifinnius; and so, unless my memory fails me, there exists in no author who committed ancient matters to literary monuments any mention of a certain Governor Sifinnius who flourished in the time of the Emperor Decius. As for the Latins who subsequently made mention of Saturninus, since they followed in the same footsteps which Gregory had previously left in the open, it is no wonder if they wandered from the path along with him. Rightly, therefore, are these things said by Hilduin (p. 69): "And that Gregory of Tours, just as he had said he read in the Passion of Saint Saturninus, records under conjecture that this very man was sent into these regions at the time of the persecution of Decius under Blessed Sixtus, along with six other Bishops; the lives or passions of whom by no means harmonize with his words in the reckoning of time."

In the fifth place he reviews our Dionysius, whom he adds to the fleet of heroes themselves and to the Gallic expedition, like a chosen Argive man. We shall, therefore, bring forward the Martyrology, which they claim is entirely by him. Thus indeed it has on October 3rd: At Athens, [the feast] of Dionysius the Areopagite, who suffered under Hadrian with various torments, as Aristides is witness in the work which he composed concerning the Christian religion, etc. And on the 9th of the same [month]: At Paris, [the feast] of Bishop Dionysius with his companions, punished by the sword by Fescenninus. From these passages, some have judged—as I have learned from their private letters—that two Dionysii are clearly distinguished, marked by the variation of place and day. But, by their leave, that foundation is glassy and fragile, from which nothing else can be concluded than that solemn feast days were variously consecrated to one and the same man. Nor, indeed, is there any reason why the mention of Athens should disturb anyone's mind: for that St. Dionysius met his final day at Athens is signified by no annals of cities or empires, no record of antiquity, and no commentaries of eminent men; rather, all those who illustrated his life in their writings clearly contradict it—whom, having been diligently gathered, we present to the studious Reader in the proper place. But if anyone should seek the reason why the ancient Roman Martyrology, Bede, and Ado treat of Dionysius the Areopagite on October 3rd, but of Dionysius of Paris on the 9th day, I should be blind and straying from rea-