Saint Denise

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Saint Denise (234–250) is a Christian saint and martyr of the 3rd century.

While Roman Emperor Philip the Arab had tolerated Christianity, his successor Decius persecuted Christians violently. He executed Pope Fabian. His proconsul Optimus was responsible for a number of martyrdoms, including Andrew, Paul, and Nicomachus. Nicomachus, under torture, recanted his faith. He was let go to sacrifice to the gods, but he fell dead in convulsions as he did so. Denise was a girl of sixteen who, seeing this, cried out that Nicomachus had risked eternity for a few moments of this world.

Denise was arrested. When threatened by Optimus, she retorted that her Lord had more power than he. She was then handed over to be raped by soldiers, but her acta says that this was miraculously prevented. When Paul and Andrew were stoned to death, Denise escaped her prison, ran to their bodies, and said, "I would share your suffering on earth, that I might share your glory in heaven." Optimus thereupon had her immediately beheaded. Her feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is May 15.

A second, lesser-known Saint Denise (c. 484) was a Christian martyr of the 5th century. She was one of five thousand Christians, including Saints Dative, Leonce, Emilien and Boniface, who were tortured and martyred in Tunisia under the rule of the Vandal king Huneric. She was the mother of Saint Marjoric. Her feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is December 6.