04 works, Today, October 3rd, is Saint Dionysius' day, his story illustrated #275

Unknown artist

Denis the Areopagite, c. 1403-1405

Miniature taken from a manuscript of his complete works

Illumination on parchment

Height: 27.3 cm; Width: 20.0 cm

Louvre Museum

The portrait of the so-called author of the text, Dionysius the Areopagite, dressed in Byzantine episcopal liturgical garment and holding in his hands a work containing his writings. An inscription in Greek and in gold letters around his head reads: “ SAINT DIONYSUS THE AEROPAGITIS ” 

Dionysius the Areopagite was a judge at the Areopagus Court in Athens, who lived in the first century. A convert to Christianity, he is venerated as a saint by multiple denominations.

He was converted to Christianity by the preaching of Paul the Apostle during the Areopagus sermon, according to Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth. He was one of the first Athenians to believe in Christ.

Antoine Caron, French, 1521–1599

Dionysius the Areopagite Converting the Pagan Philosophers, 1570s

Oil on panel

The J. Paul Getty Museum

In 1571 a dramatic solar eclipse occurred: this event probably served as the subject of this painting by Antoine Caron. He painted it at the court of Catherine de Medici, queen of France, who, like many rulers of the time, was extremely superstitious and fascinated by astronomical phenomena, often seeing eclipses and natural disasters as foreboding omens. More on this work

Antoine Caron (1521–1599), born in Beauvais, was a French master glassmaker, illustrator, Northern Mannerist painter and a product of the School of Fontainebleau.

He is one of the few French painters of his time who had a pronounced artistic personality. His work reflects the refined, although highly unstable, atmosphere at the court of the House of Valois during the French Wars of Religion of 1560 to 1598.

He began painting in his teens doing frescos for a number of churches. Between 1540 and 1550 he worked under Primaticcio and Niccolò dell'Abbate at the School of Fontainebleau. In 1561, he was appointed the court painter by Catherine de' Medici and Henry II of France. As court painter he also had the duties of organizing the court pageants. In this way he was involved in organizing the ceremony and royal entry for the coronation of Charles IX in Paris and the wedding of Henry IV of France with Marguerite de Valois. Some of his surviving illustrations are from these pageants. He died in Paris in 1599. More on Antoine Caron

Tradition holds that earlier, at a young age, he found himself in Heliopolis of Egypt just at the time of Christ's crucifixion in Jerusalem. On that Friday, at the time of the crucifixion of Christ, "From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land."  The young boy, Dionysius was shocked by this paradoxical phenomenon and exclaimed: "God suffers or is always despondent". He took care to note the day and hour of this supernatural event of the darkness of the Sun.

Raphael, (1483–1520)

Saint Paul preaching in Athens, c. 1515

Height: 390 cm (12.7 ft); Width: 440 cm (14.4 ft)

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (April 6 or March 28, 1483 – April 6, 1520), known as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

Raphael was enormously productive, running an unusually large workshop and, despite his death at 37, leaving a large body of work. Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace. The best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura. After his early years in Rome much of his work was executed by his workshop from his drawings, with considerable loss of quality. He was extremely influential in his lifetime, though outside Rome his work was mostly known from his collaborative printmaking. More Raffaello

When Dionysius returned to Athens, he heard the preaching of the Apostle Paul, talking about that supernatural darkness during the Crucifixion of the Lord, dissolving any doubt about the validity of his new faith. He was baptized, with his family in 52 AD. 

Unknown artist

Dormission of Mother of Christ, Mary

I have no further description, at this time

Historical accounts wrote that when he learned that the Mother of Christ, Mary, lived in Jerusalem, he travelled to Jerusalem to meet her. From this meeting he said: "Her appearance, her features, her whole appearance testify that she is indeed Mother of God." In Jerusalem, he also discovered where Mary slept and departed this world to join her Son and her God. Then he wept sorely like the Apostles and other Church leaders torrents of tears and also attended Mary's funeral in Jerusalem. 

After his conversion, Dionysius became the first Bishop of Athens. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches. He is the patron saint of Athens and is venerated as the protector of the Judges and the Judiciary. 

Dionysius suffered a Christian martyr's end by burning. His story was preserved by the early Christian historian, Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical history. More on Dionysius the Areopagite

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