Saint Dionysius the Areopagite ()*
I saw the saint in his childhood, when he was the son of pagan parents. He was always a profound searcher of truth, and he always commended himself to a God of a higher nature. He was enlightened by God in dreams through visions. I saw him admonished by his parents for neglect in the worship of the gods, and then entrusted to the teaching of a very strict preceptor. During the night an apparition came, which told him to flee from the house while the preceptor was asleep. Dionysius went through Palestine, where he heard much talk of Jesus Christ; he listened to everything, retaining all they told him with eagerness. In Egypt I saw him learning astronomy in that place where the Holy Family had been. In this school I saw him with others observing the eclipse of the sun that happened at the death of Jesus. He exclaimed: "This is not natural; either a God is dying at this moment or this is the end of the world." I saw that his former preceptor, encouraged by an apparition, went in search of Dionysius. He found him, and Dionysius went with him to Heliopolis. For a long time he could not understand the idea of a Crucified God. After his conversion, he traveled extensively with Saint Paul. He was with him in Ephesus to visit the Most Holy Virgin. Pope Clement sent him to Paris.
I saw his martyrdom. He took his decapitated head between his hands crossed over his chest, and with it, he went walking around the hill. The executioners fled in terror. A bright radiance emanated from the saint. A good lady buried him. He was very old when he died. He had many heavenly visions, and Saint Paul revealed his own visions to him. He wrote magnificent volumes, many of which are preserved. The book of the Sacraments was not written by him in its entirety; it was finished by another writer.
() Noël Alexandre (111-168) brings many testimonies of Dionysius the Areopagite that agree with what was seen by Anna Catherine. He says that Dionysius, already 90 years of age, went to Rome where he was received by Pope Clement, and was sent to the Gauls where he suffered martyrdom. Saint Ammonius adds that he had been instructed for years by Saint Paul. Decapitated, he carried his head — angelo duce et caeleste lúimine praecedente — from the site of Montmartre to what is today the Church of Saint Denis.*