Classic Poem

Let all the brothers solemnly rejoice;
Thereunto let the whole church add its voice.
This day the glorious Dionysius,
With his companions, Eleutherius
And Rusticus, superb in martyrdom,
And crowned therewith, attained to heaven, their home.
In Athens once the saint surpassed in wit,
Where he was called the Areopagite,
Amongst his fellows reckoned first of all;
Yet spurned he, at the bidding of Saint Paul,
The summit of his power, and wisdom's pride,
And all the glory of the world beside;
by whom informed, baptised and godly grown,
He came a doctor into Athens town;
Which, radiant like one who bears a light,
He drew from darkness and from error's plight;
Gave holy dogma to his native land
And neighbouring peoples upon every hand
This done, and being instinct with holy love,
The Apostolic mission bade him move
To distant peoples (to give true for false)
And the forbidding kingdom of the Gauls;
Declaring unto whom the living Word,
And many men converting to the Lord,
Being rudely taken by the untoward,
With his companions, by a godless sword,
For Christ, he reached the martyrs their award
O city Paris, o thou fortunate,
The bones to have known of martyrdom so great,
And not less happy Ratisbon, o thou
Which great authority did late endow,
Which shelterest those blessed relics now.
These and all people shield from Satan's snares:
For help commend with thy unceasing prayers
Unto the King of kings, o glorious,
O ancient martyr, Dionysius.