DENIS

From Agepedia

DENIS or DENYS, ST., ABBEY OF; a church celebrated in history. The saint (Dionysius) to whom it is consecrated, having been sent from Rome into Gaul to preach the gospel, died by the hand of the public executioner, about the end of the 3d century. Catulla, a heathen lady, affected by the martyr's constancy, obtained his body, which had been thrown into the Seine, buried it in her garden, became a Christian, and erected a small chapel over his tomb, which was afterwards rebuilt on a more extensive plan, by St. Genevieve, and became, in the 6th century, one of the most flourishing abbeys. This large edifice is still standing, a noble structure, the oldest Christian church in France. On the left was the principal entrance, a large door with two small doors at the sides, ornamented with statues of the ancient saints and French kings, carved in stone. The interior of the church was enriched with pious offerings and works of art. In the large vaults under the choir reposed the remains of several kings of the first and second races, and all the rulers of the third race, from Hugh Capet to Louis XVI. At present, the heads of all the saints and kings at the entrance are wanting, and the vaults are vacant, all the bodies having been removed during the revolution. Oct. 16,1793, at the time when the queen was beheaded in Paris, the coffin of Louis XV was taken out of the vaults of St. Denis, and, after a stormy debate, it was decided to throw the remains of all the kings, even those of Henry IV and Louis XIV, which were yet, in a good degree, preserved entire, and recognised with perfect certainty, into a pit, to melt down their leaden coffins on the spot, and to take away and melt into bullets whatever lead there was besides in the church (the whole roof, for example). Napoleon's decree of the 20th February, 1806, made St. Denis again the burialplace of the reigning family of France ; the church was repaired and ornamented, and marked with the emblems of the new dynasty, particularly the large N. Napoleon had selected a vaulted room for the tomb of himself and his consort. Louis XVIII obliterated from St. Denis all traces of Napoleon's rule, buried whatever bones of his ancestors could be found, especially the relics of Louis XVI and his family, in the ancient sepulchre of the kings, and instituted canons, whose duty it is to protect the tombs within. These canons of St. Denis are the most distinguished in France, and form a convent, the abbot of which is a bishop.