Saint of April 8: San Dionisio. Catholic Santoral

Every April 8 remembers San Dionisio de CorintoBishop of the first centuries of the Church that should not be confused with San Dionisio Areopagita, first bishop of Athens.

According to the writings of Eusebio de Caesarea, San Dionisio lived for a good part of the second century. The exact date of his birth is not known, but it is known that he was already a mature man around the year 171, the first tenth of the Roman emperor Marco Aurelio. Dionisio lived in the city of Corinth, Greece, becoming a bishop of that metropolis, as registered in Roman martyrology.

Dionisio possessed an admirable knowledge of the Word of God, and not only was responsible for instructing and guiding the ecclesial community of Corinth but also veiled by his brothers bishops from other cities and provinces. Proof of this is your epistolary repertoire.

Pastoral dynamism and epistolary work

Eusebio de Cesarea, in its ecclesiastical history, lists seven letters written by San Dionisio to the churches of Lacedemonia, Athens, Cnostos, Nicomedia, Gortina, Amastris and Rome. Only from the latter some fragments are preserved.

First, there is the letter addressed to the Lacedemonios, which deals with the need for orthodoxy (doctrinal righteousness) as a requirement to live in peace and unity. Then, there is the letter to the Athenians, who is a call to live faith and move away from apostasy. Third, there is the letter sent to the bishop of Cnostos, Pinito, in which it makes recommendations so that it is not too hard with their spiritual children, who were continuous prey of carnal pleasures. There is also the letter to the Nicodms, a defense of Christianity against the Marcionita heresy (Marcionism), which raised the break between the teachings of Christ and the Old Testament. The fifth letter was addressed to Bishop Felipe de Gortina, praising his firmness against heretical currents. The sixth, addressed to the Christians of Amastris, deals with marriage, continence and celibacy, and gives recommendations around the charitable treatment with those who had fallen into sin or doctrinal error.

Episcopal fraternity

Finally the seventh letter and, probably, the most important of all, is addressed to Rome, to Pope Sotero (Pontiff from 166 to 175). This is the only letter of which some brief passages are preserved and that constitutes a praise to the high pontiff. In it, Dionisio urges the Romans to practice charity and solidarity with those Christian communities that needed it most.

San Dionisio is recognized his great contribution in revealing philosophical errors, from paganism, which gave rise to the different heresies appeared in the first centuries.

The Greek tradition states that San Dionisio died martyred in 178 -as possible if we consider Marco Aurelio’s hostility towards Christianity; However, there is no certainty about it.

If you want to know more about San Dionisio, you can read this article of the Catholic Encyclopedia: https://ec.aciprensa.com/wiki/San_Dionisio.