It is the feast day of St Denis of Paris (above), the 3rd century martyr. He is the former patron saint of France, and Montmartre (Martyr’s Mount) in Paris is named as his supposed place of beheading. According to medieval sources, after his execution, he got up, picked up his head and walked the seven miles to his place of burial, preaching as he went – just like St Osgyth, St Gemolo, and other cephalophoric saints.
Che Guevara, Marxist revolutionary, was shot to death in Bolivia today in 1967. His resemblance to Jesus (long hair, beard) has led to him being embraced as a saint by Bolivian working people, with portraits of ‘San Ernesto’ appearing next to the Virgin Mary and the saints in Catholic homes.
Today in 1417, the Pope was demoted. The Council of Constance, which was frankly a bit tired of Popes and their problems after sorting out three people all claiming to be the true Pope, decided to bring the papacy down a peg. There were to be regular church councils every 5-10 years, they said, and the councils, not His Holiness, were to have final authority in the Church. This earth-shattering revolution lasted all of two decades.
‘A frequent celebration of general councils is an especial means for cultivating the field of the Lord and effecting the destruction of briars, thorns, and thistles, to wit, heresies, errors, and schism, and of bringing forth a most abundant harvest.’ Council of Constance
Thomas Patten, Vicar of Seasalter in Kent, England, and sometime smuggler, died today in 1764, 80 years old. His Archdeacon once told him off for refusing to recite the Athanasian Creed, when his near neighbour, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was happy to recite it. Patten responded, ‘Perhaps he may believe it, but I don’t. He believes at the rate of 7,000 per annum; I at less than 50.’
Robert Carliell, an English poet, signed his will today in 1622, and died later in the month. He wrote a diatribe poem, ‘Britaine’s glorie’, which praises the Church of England while damning all other forms of religion. The lengthy, rhyming title alone, which anticipates rap by 450 years, gives an idea of what Carliell wanted to get across: ‘Containing the Heathens Infidelitie, the Turks Blasphemie, the Popes Hypocrisie, Amsterdams Varietie, the Church of Englands Veritie… The King’s Excellency. His Issues Integritie. The Nobles and Gentries Constancie. The Councels and Judges Fidelitie. The Preachers and the Bishops Sinceritie.’
Pope Pius XII, the World War II Pope, died today in 1958 at the age of 82. He died in his bed of heart failure, due to overwork, according to his doctor. You can see his point. Among the Pope’s last words, he suddenly cried out, ‘To work! Files! Documents! To work!’
Image: Lawrence OP