REMEMBERING THE CHRISTIAN MARTYRS  OF OLD (PART 7, FINAL PART)

TEXT:

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." (Psalms 116 verse 15, King James Version)

In the martyrdom of the saints of old, sometimes, God allowed certain signs or wonders to take place. These were probably signs to their persecutors to signify His presence with their victims. These signs or wonders varied. Apostle John, for instance, was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil but was miraculously delivered. He was afterwards banished to the Isle of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation. In some cases, hungry and wild beasts refused or refrained from eating up victims of Christian persecution. This calls to mind the Biblical records of the cases of the three Hebrew Children who owing to God's grace, escaped unhurt when thrown into the fiery furnace (see Daniel 3); and Daniel who escaped unhurt also after he was cast into the den of lions (see Daniel 6).

    There's the wonderful case of Saint Denis of Paris. He was the first Bishop of Paris (then Lutetia) in the third century and, together with his companions Rusticus and Eleutherius, was martyred in the year AD 250 for his faith by decapitation.

         The story goes that the colossal number of conversions Denis made got him on the bad side of the local pagan priests. So the Roman rulers of Paris had him arrested and was interrogated by a certain prefect or governor named Fescennius Sisinnius. In the course of the interrogation, a certain Roman aristocrat called Larcia accused Denis of being a magician. He was quickly stripped and lashed in front of Rusticus and Eleutherius, his two companions, who were soon made to undergo the same treatment. Saint Denis was then laid out naked upon a grill, and left to the mercy of wild starving animals, thrown into a furnace and finally hung up on a cross. He was undaunted and by God's grace was said to have persevered in all of these; so also were his two companions. Finally, the governor (Fescennius Sisinnius) ordered the three men to be beheaded.

     It was on the highest hill in Paris called Montmartre that they were executed. It's reported that after Denis' head was cut off, he carried it in his hands and walked 6 miles preaching and telling people to repent of their sins and give their lives to Christ. He preached repentance with his decapitated head in his hands for 6 miles. After about 6 miles, he slumped and went to be with the Lord.

      In an astonishing miracle the body of Saint Denis was seen to rise up and to gather up his head in his own hands as if he was still alive, raising it up triumphantly and carrying it and preaching repentance for a distance of about 6 miles to the place where it presently reposes where the Abbey of Saint-Denis is located in Paris.

    According to legend, angels accompanied him as he carried his own head from the place of execution to his chosen burial site, where later the church of Saint Denis was built in his honor, and later in 1136, it was transformed into a Gothic - style Basilique that was not completed until the end of the thirteenth century. This Basilica became the traditional burial place for French monarchs, and many kings and queens of France were interred there from the 10th to the 18th centuries. Hallelujah!

 PRAYER:

May the Blood of Jesus Christ shed for my salvation, coupled with the blood of the Martyrs that confirmed the Gospel never be shed in vain in my life, in Jesus name.