ON SS. PAUL AND DIONYSIUS, MARTYRS AT ALEXANDRIA IN EGYPT.
CommentaryPaul, Martyr at Alexandria in Egypt (St.) Dionysius, Martyr at Alexandria in Egypt (St.)
G. H.
[1] This noble pair of Martyrs is thus inscribed in the ancient Martyrologies of St. Jerome and of Reichenau: At Alexandria, Paul and Dionysius. The manuscript Martyrology of St. Maximin near Trier: On the 5th day before the Ides of February, at Alexandria, SS. Paul and Dionysius. SS. Paul and Dionysius,
[2] The manuscript Martyrology of the Carthusian house at Utrecht suggests another Dionysius in these words: Apollonia, Virgin and Martyr, with many others; from whom St. Dionysius the Bishop is distinct; Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, exhorter of the aforesaid Martyrs. What he wrote in his letter to Fabianus of Antioch about the constancy of the Christians at Alexandria and the torments and death of St. Apollonia, we have reported under her Acts on this day. But we believe that the discussion here concerns a different Dionysius, of Alexandria, who was a companion of Paul in martyrdom, especially because the name of St. Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, appears in the same Martyrology of St. Jerome on February 14, in many others on the 18th of the same month, and in the Roman Martyrology on November 17. It should also be noted here that among those thirty-seven about whom we treated on January 18, there are also a Paul and a Dionysius.