Denis
3rd-century Bishop of Paris and saint
- Fame55.6
- Momentum0.0
- Religious Figures rank#216
Source-basedFalling
- Fame55.6
- Momentum0.0
- Religious Figures rank#216
- Wikipedia19.9K
Lived 201–250, aged 49
Summary
Updated 2026-06-08
He's venerated as the patron saint of France and Paris, but Denis is best remembered for what came after his execution: according to legend, the decapitated 3rd-century bishop picked up his severed head and walked several miles preaching repentance.
Biography
About
Denis served as bishop of Paris—then called Lutetia—in the third century, when professing Christianity could cost you your life. Around AD 250, likely during Emperor Decius's persecution, he and two companions, Rusticus and Eleutherius, were martyred by beheading. The story that grew around his death made him Christianity's most famous cephalophore: a saint who carried his own head. A local Christian woman built a chapel where he was buried. That chapel became an abbey, then a basilica, and eventually the center of Saint-Denis, now a suburb folded into the edges of Paris. He was later named on…
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The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.
Fame
Falling55.6
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Historical22.8
Now attention23.2
Source confidence60.0
Completeness60.0
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Sources
- WikidataHigh confidencewikidata · wikidata.org
- WikipediaHigh confidencewikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Pantheon 2.0High confidencedatabase · pantheon.world
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