Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/801

 DENIS

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DENIS

justification by faith, i. e. his interpretation of Rom., i, 17, was the traditional one, by giving the relevant passages from no fewer than sixty-five commentators. I If these works many exist only in manuscript. To iliscover them it was necessary to traverse Europe; this part which appeared posthumously is a master- piece of critical erudition. The third part shows that the year 1.515 was the turning point in Luther's career, and that his own account of his early life is utterly im- trustworthy, that his immorality was the real source of his doctrine, etc. No such analysis of Luther's thoologj' and exegesis was ever given to the learned nurld for which it was written.

For some time preNdous it had been known that i iinifle was engaged on such a work, but when in 1904 I Im' first volume of 860 pages of " Luther imd Luther- tiiin in der ersten Entwicklung quellenmassig darge- > t (lit " appeared, it fell like a bomb into the mitlst of the Krformer's admirers. The edition was exhausted in a miinth. The leading Protestants and rationalists in (Germany, Seeberg, Harnack, and seven other profes- sors, besides a host of newspaper writers attempted to ilcfend Luther, but in vain. Denifle's crushing an- swer to Harnack and Seeberg, " Luther in rationalis- tischer und christlicher Beleuchtung" appeared in .M:irch, 1904, and two months afterwards he issued a revised edition of the first part of the first volume ; the si'cond was brought out in 190.5 and the third in 1906 by \. Weiss, O. P. He has the second volume on lutheranisni, for which the author left materials, It ady (1908) for the press.

1 )enifle has been censured by some and praised by ntliers for the tone of this work. Perhaps if it were li ss indignant the amazing erudition displayed would produce a greater effect. There was no need of hard words in a work, to use the words of Cambridge Uni- versity when it honoured Denifle, on "Lutherum ab codem ad fidem documentorum depictum". Ke has thrown more light on Luther's career and character than all the editors of Luther's works and all Luther's 1 Monraplicrs taken together. Denifie wished to offend no man, but he certainly resolved on showing once and lor all the Reformer in his true colours. He makes l.uthcr exhibit himself. Protestant writers, he re- marks, betray an utter lack of the historical method in dealing with the subject, and the notions commonly aecepted are all founded on fable. A.s he pointedly ol (serves: "Critics, Harnack and Ritschl more than I ■! hers, may say what they like about God Incarnate ; 1 Mit let no one dare to say a word of disapproval about I iither before 1521". Denifle's impeachment is no il oubt a terrible one, but apart from some trifling in- I'curacies in immaterial points it is established by . . jircfragable proofs.

Denifle, who was beloved by Leo XIII and Pius X, w.as a consultor of the cardinalitial Commi.ssinn of Studies, a member of the Imperial Academy of Scien- ces (Vienna), and of tho.se of Paris, Prague, Berlin, Gottingen; honorary Doctor of the Universities of Miinster and Innsbruck; member of the Legion of Honour, of the Order of the Iron Crown, etc. He was on his way to Cambridge, where he and his friend Father Ehrle were to be made Honorary Doctors of that university, when he was struck down by the hand of death.

Denifle's Works in Ada Cap. Gen. Ord. Prwd. 1M7 (official obituary notice); Kjrsch, Le P. Henri Suso Denifle O. P. Ireprint Louvain, 190.5); Ghabmann, P. Heinrieh Denifle. O. P.. Eine Wiirdiguni/ seiner Forschnngsarbeit (Mainz, 190.">); Grauert. p. Heinrieh Denifle, O. P., Ein Wort zum Gediiehtni.'sa und zum Frieden. Ein Beitraa ntieJi zum Luther-Streil (Freil>urc. 1906\ Weiss. Lulherpsyehologie ah Scldfisset zur Lulher- Ifgende — Denifle's Vnlersuehungen Am'/i.scA Tiachgepriifl (Mainz,

1906). Reginald Walsh.

Denis, S.mnt, Bishop of Paris, and martyr. Born in Italy, nothing is definitely known of the time or place, or of his early life. His feast is kept on 9 Oct- ober. He is usually represented with his head in his IV.— 16

hands because, according to the legend, after his exe- cution the corpse rose again and carried the head for some distance. That, however, while still very young he was distinguished for his virtuous life, knowledge of sacred things, and firm faith, is proved by the fact that Pope Fabian (236-250) sent him with some other missionary bishops to Gaul on a diflicult mission. The Church of Gaul had suffered terribly under the persectition of the Emperor Dccius and the new nies- sensjiTs of l-'aith were to endeavour to restore it to its former tlonrishing condition. Denis with his insepar- able com]ianions, the priest Rusticus and the deacon Eleiitlierins, arrived in the neighbourhood of the pres- ent city of Paris and settled on the island in tiie Seine. The earliest document giving an account of his labours aiul of his martyrdom (Passio SS. Dionysii, Rustici et Eleutherii), dating from the end of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century and wrongly at- tributed to the poet Venantius Fortunatus, is inter- woven with much legend, from which, however, the following facts can be gleaned.

On the island in the Seine Denis built a church and provided for a regular solemnization of the Divine service. His fearless and indefatigable preaching of the Gospel led to countless conversions. This aroused the en\'y, anger, and hatred of the heathen priests. They incited the populace against the strangers and importuned the governor Fesccnninus Sisinnius to put a stop by force to the new teaching. Denis with his two companions were seized and as they persevered in their faith were beheaded (about 275) after many tortures. Later accounts give a detailed description of the confessors' sufferings. They were scourged, im- prisoned, racked, thrown to wild beasts, burnt at the stake, and finally beheaded. (Jregory of Tours simply states : "Beatus Dionysius Parisiorum episco- pus diversis pro Christi nomine adfectiis pirnis pra;- sentem vitam gladio imminente finivit" (Hist. Franc. I, .30). The bodies of the three holy martyrs received an honourable burial through the efforts of a pious matron named Catulla and a small shrine was erected over their graves. This wa.s later on replaced by a beautiful basilica (egregium templum) which Venan- tius celebrated in verse (('arm. I, ii).

From the reign of King Dagobert (622-638) the church and the Benedictine monastery attached to it were more and more beautifully adorned; the veneration of St. Denis became by degrees a national devotion, rulers and princes ^'J■ing with one another to promote it. This development is due in no small de- gree to an error prevailing througlioiit the Middle Ages, which identified St. Denis of Paris with St. Dionysius the Areopagite, and with the Pseudo- Dionysius, the composer of the Areopagitic writings. The combining of these three persons in one was doubt- less effected as early as the eighth or perhaps the seventh century, but it was only through the " Areopa- gitica" written in 836 by Hilduin, Alilwit of Saint-Den- is, at the request of Louis the Pious, that this serious error took deep root. The investigations of Lavmoy first threw doulit on the story and the Bollandist de Bye entirely rejected it. Hilduin was probably deceived by the same apocryphal Latin and Greek fictions. The po.s.session of the .Areopagitic writings (since 827 in Saint-Denis) strengtheneil his conviction of this truth. Historiographers of the present day do not dispute the point. .Ml the attempts of Darras, Vidieii, C. Schneider, and others to throw some light on the subject have proved fruitless.

Vila .S'.S'. marl. Dionysii e(e. in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Auct. .inliqu. IV', 2; St. Grecory of Toiirs. Hi.it. Frnnc. in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script, rer. Merov.. t. I ; Ada SS.. Octob.. IV, 696- 855; P. L., CVI, 13-50 (P. G., IV, 589-684); Chevalier, Bio- hibl.. a. V.

Jos. Stiglmayr.

Denis, Joh.\nn Nepomuk Cosmas Michael, bib- liographer and poet, b. at Scharding, Bavaria, 27 Sep-