Saint Denis Martyrdom Depicted on First Gothic Cathedral Portals

The first Gothic Cathedral features two significant portal entrances that narrate the imprisonment and martyrdom of Saint Denis, the patron saint of the abbey and of France. This story is primarily drawn from "The Golden Legend," a book written around 1260 by Jacopo da Varagine, an Italian chronicler and Archbishop of Genoa. This collection of saints' lives was one of the most widely read books of the Middle Ages.

The Story of Saint Denis

According to "The Golden Legend," in the mid-3rd century AD, the Roman Emperor, angered by the spread of Christianity in France, dispatched his provost, Fescennius, to Paris to suppress the new religion. Fescennius discovered Denis preaching alongside two companions, Rusticus and Eleutherius.

Fescennius had Denis bound in iron and imprisoned. Denis was denounced by a woman named Leersia, who claimed he had misled her husband into converting. Fescennius attempted to execute Denis through various means, including beatings, exposure to fire, and being thrown to hungry wild beasts. However, the beasts became meek and tame when Denis made the sign of the cross.

While imprisoned, Denis celebrated mass with his fellow prisoners. During this mass, Christ appeared to him in a great light, delivering bread and saying, "Take this, my dear friend, for thy reward is most great with me."

Depictions on the Cathedral Portals

South Portal of the West Facade

The tympanum of the south portal on the west facade depicts Christ descending through wavy clouds to place the communion wafer directly into Bishop Denis's mouth. A prisoner on the left holds a cup, and another on the right holds an open book.

On the far left of the inner archer, Leersia is shown with her hands and body conveying feelings of regret or remorse for denouncing Denis, an act for which she later repented. To the right, Provost Fescennius appears to be issuing orders, possibly to the two men positioned between Leersia and the prisoners. Two pairs of men, armed with swords and an axe, stand on either side of the main scene in the left and right archers.

North Portal of the West Facade

The north portal of the west facade illustrates Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius with chains around their necks, being led away by Roman soldiers carrying round shields and broadswords. Fescennius is again seated to the right of the prison, with outstretched arms, giving the order for their execution.

Above the prisoners, Christ, separated from the earthly realm by clouds, hands a crown of saints to angels. In the first archer on either side, people are shown lamenting. At the top, an angel prays over what appears to be a reliquary, intended to house the sacred relics of the martyrs.

Tympanum of the North Side Entrance

The tympanum above the entrance on the north side of the cathedral depicts the beheading of Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius. Their deaths are accompanied by two miracles:

1. Doves bearing crowns: At the top, two doves descend to earth, carrying crowns for the martyred saints.
2. The Cephalophoria: More famously, Saint Denis, in the words of Jacopo da Varagine, "raised himself up and bear his head between his arms as the angel led him two leagues from the place which is said to be the hill of martyrs and which is today the hill of Makra in northern Paris. He led them unto the place where he now restth." This is the famous miracle of the cephalophoria, where a saint walks while carrying their own head. The 19th-century critic Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve famously quipped about this miracle, "the first step is the hardest."

Saint Denis carried his head from Montmartre to the location that would become the Abbey of Saint-Denis in the 7th century. In the 1140s, nearly nine centuries after these miraculous events in Roman Gaul, this site was transformed into the first Gothic cathedral.