(15743012 - Religion and Theology) He Darkens Me With Brightness - The Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius in Hilduin's Vita of Saint Denis PDF

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Contents
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Biographies of Mysticism
Marianne M. Delaporte He Darkens Me with Brightness: The Theology
of Pseudo-Dionysius in Hilduin’s Vita of
Saint Denis 219
J.S. Krüger Anthropology in the ‘Integral Depth Ecology’
of Jochen Kirchhoff 247
Theology and Society

Johannes A. van der Ven, The Evil of Violence: A Trigger for a
Jaco S. Dreyer and Human Rights Culture? 264
Hendrik J.C. Pieterse
Ignatius Swart and The Rights of Children: A New Agenda for
Hannelie Yates Practical Theology in South Africa 314
Clint Le Bruyns Can Any Public Good Come from Evangelicals?
Theological Paradigms and Possibilities Toward
a Transforming South Africa 341
Frederick Hale Norwegian Ecclesiastical Affiliation in Three
Countries: A Challenge to Earlier Historiography 359
Refiguring Graeco-Roman Antiquity

Luther H. Martin Cognitive Science, Ritual, and the Hellenistic
Mystery Religions 383
Judith Perkins Fictive Scheintod and Christian Resurrection 396
BOOK REVIEWS
Volume 13⁄3-4 (2006)
Volume 13⁄3-4 (2006)

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Aquarian Conspiracy to New Age
(H. Christina Steyn) 419
Mark Husbands and Justification: What’s at Stake in the Current Debates
Daniel J. Treier (Christoph W. Stenschke) 420
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HE DARKENS ME WITH BRIGHTNESS:

THE THEOLOGY OF PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS IN
HILDUIN’S VITA OF SAINT DENIS
Marianne M. Delaporte
Abstract
In the 9th century Hilduin of Saint Denis wrote two lives of Saint
Denis for Louis the Pious, one in prose and one in poetry. These
lives, predominantly the prose, were partially a collage of two pre-
vious lives and other documents to which Hilduin had access, includ-
ing the works of Pseudo-Dionysius, which Hilduin first translated for
the West. Hilduin displays particular originality as a hagiographer by
giving us a synopsis and some commentary upon the Pseudo-Dionysian
opus. By examining the first portion of the vita, which includes the
nine chapters dedicated to the writings of the saint, one can begin
to examine how Hilduin understand Pseudo-Dionysian theology and
its impact upon the entire vita.
1. Introduction: The Scope of the Vita
Historians of theology have long ignored hagiography as a site for con-

veying theology. Hilduin of Saint-Denis’s two ninth-century vitae of Saint
Denis are a prime example for seeing how theology is expressed within
the context of a saint’s life. The case of Saint Denis of Paris is a par-
ticularly good one as this saint was believed to be the same person as
the theologian known today as Pseudo-Dionysius and then as Dionysius,
Paul’s famous Athenian convert.
Hilduin, abbot of Saint Denis, wrote the prose life of Saint Denis, the
Post Beatam ac Salutiferam (PBS ) following the reinstatement in 834 of Louis
the Pious after two failed rebellions by his sons. This prose life is largely
a collage of two previous lives of Saint Denis (the Gloriosae and the Post
Beatam et Gloriosam) but it also contains several chapters (chapters 9 through
17) which go into detail concerning the Pseudo-Dionysian opus. These
chapters are definitely Hilduin’s innovation in the passion of Denis, as
previous hagiographers had not had the Dionysian texts available. It is
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220 Marianne M. Delaporte
also quite innovative to put so much emphasis on a saint’s theology within

a vita. Théry uses these chapters as proof of Hilduin’s knowledge of
Pseudo-Dionysius. However, he does not go further and discuss how this
knowledge might have influenced Hilduin’s whole vision of the vita, though
that seems to have been Théry’s plan for his third intended volume.1
Hilduin followed this prose life with a metric version (PBS poetry), which
Michael Lapidge discovered recently (MS Bodley 535).2 This is a lengthy
poem of 22000 hexameters, which is closely related to the prose. Using
both of these we can now get a better sense of Hilduin’s understanding
of Pseudo-Dionysian theology than could have Théry.
Hilduin’s prose life of Saint Denis remained the standard for genera-
tions to come yet it has never been studied for its own sake. The vita
has been studied for two reasons, because it was believed to contain the
first example of cephalophory and the first example of Areopagitism in
the West. Cephalophory is the miracle of a headless saint walking with
his/her head in her hands. Saint Denis performs this miracle after hav-
ing been beheaded by order of the emperor. He proceeds from Montmartre
to where he wishes to have his body buried, at what is now Saint-Denis.
It was once believed that Hilduin invented this popular miracle but it
appears in prior vitae, though Hilduin is the first to elaborate it to such
an extent. Areopagitism refers to the conflation of the three Dionysiuses,
the one mentioned in Acts, the theologian and the bishop of Paris. Again,
Hilduin was once believed to have invented this conflation but prior
instances of this confusion have been discovered in the West. While the
question of Hilduin’s part in bringing cephalophory and Areopagitism to
the West has been studied intensely, scholars have not stopped to appre-
ciate the contents of the vita itself outside of questions of provenance, that
is, to examine the PBS on its own merits, within its own context. One
of the principal originalities of Hilduin’s work as a hagiographer is the
1
Gabriel Théry, Etudes Dionysiennes I: Hilduin, Traducteur de Denys, 2 vols.
(Etudes de Philosophie Médiévale 16, 19; Paris: Librairie Philosophique, J. Vrin,
1932, 1932 [II: 493]). He writes ‘Il nous reste pour la premiere moitié du IX
siècle à publier un troisième volume sur Hilduin, qui traitera uniquement des
Légendes Latines de Denys. Ce volume est achevé.’ However, having done some
research I have been unable to locate this manuscript, which would have greatly
altered my work, and it was the opinion of Father André Duval, O.P., archivist
for the Bibliotheque du Saulchoir, where Théry worked, that research for the
third volume was never begun. Private correspondence 15 June, 1999.
2
Michael Lapidge, ‘The Lost “Passio Metrica S. Dionysii” by Hilduin of Saint-
Denis,’ Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch (1989): 56–79.

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The Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius 221
addition within the vita of nine chapters that describe and often give long
excerpts from the Pseudo-Dionysian corpus that Hilduin himself had trans-
lated. Théry uses these excerpts in proving that it was Hilduin who first
translated Pseudo-Dionysius into Latin for the West rather than John Scot
Eriugena as previously believed. While the text in the vita often follows
the translation word for word, it also adds detail and excludes many por-
tions. As Théry points out, Louis had asked Hilduin for a passion rather
than a theological treatise. Théry writes that ‘he only retains the bio-
graphical information that these books [the Dionysian corpus] contain
and the information necessary for giving some idea of the intellectual
activity of Saint Paul’s convert.’3 While the biographical information is
important, for reasons which will be discussed, Hilduin is doing much
more than this. Whereas Hilduin and Louis’ letters which precede the
vita have been thoroughly studied by Théry and others for clues to Hilduin’s
relationship with the Pseudo-Dionysian corpus, the text within the vita
has not. Indeed, the role of theology and exegesis within hagiographical
works has barely been touched upon by recent scholars. Yet hagiogra-
phy was both a form of biblical exegesis and one in which theological
ideas could be elucidated.4 Therefore, hagiography concerns not only the
biography of a saint and the moral virtue that the saint exemplifies, but
also contains abstract theological ideas, which are revealed both in the
choice of language and in the choice of events emphasised. Both Gregory
of Tours and Augustine had argued that language could reflect not only
life but also the most abstract religious truths, even if, to do so, it had
to be bent to new meanings.5 Hilduin would have been influenced by
some understanding of Pseudo-Dionysius whose use of words to search
for religious truth leads to his negative theology. This understanding would
be the first that is known in the West as Hilduin was the first to trans-
late any significant portion of Pseudo-Dionysius from Greek to Latin.
Examining Hilduin’s translation and his choice of selections should give
3
‘De ces livres il ne retiendra que les renseignements biographiques qu’ils con-
tiennent et les indications nécessaires pour donner quelque idée de ‘l’activité intel-
lectuelle du converti de saint Paul,’ Théry, ‘Hilduin et la Premiere Traduction
des Ecrits du Pseudo-Denis,’ Revue d’Histoire de L’Eglise de France 19 (1923), 29.
4
For examples of biblical exegesis in hagiography see Sandra Duncan, ‘Signa
de Caelo in the Lives of St. Cuthbert: The Impact of Biblical Images and Exegesis
on Early Medieval Hagiography,’ The Heythrop Journal 61 (April 2000): 400.
5
Thomas J. Heffernan, Sacred Biography: Saints and Their Biographers in the Middle
Ages (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), 7–12.

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a better appreciation of Hilduin’s theological understanding of hagiogra-

phy and of Pseudo-Dionysius’s theology. It must be noted that Hilduin’s
translation often varies greatly from the translation that now exists of
Pseudo-Dionysius, in fact, his translation is, in parts ‘almost unintelligible.’6
The first twenty-four chapters of the PBS cover Denis’s life prior to
his martyrdom. These are, in a sense, the introduction to the life, as the
martyrdom is the centerpiece of the passion. These chapters are impor-
tant for several reasons: they set up the character of Denis, an aristocrat
and a wise man. They reinforce this image of wisdom with a synopsis of
the Pseudo-Dionysian works, which also serve to reinforce Denis’s apos-
tolicity and primacy.
Perception, the limits of knowledge and the quest for understanding
through naming are central to the life of Denis, and Hilduin’s under-
standing of the importance of these concepts is dependent in part upon
his reading of Pseudo-Dionysius. Danger and eroticism, light and dark,
nobility and servitude, such images permeate the Post Beatam ac Salutiferam
(PBS) and emphasise the uncertainty, contradictions and tensions that are
fundamental to a martyrdom narrative. Combined with the language of
perception, senses, knowledge and passion, these images speak of a lim-
inal and ever-searching saint, one who is led by desire for God to move
constantly further through the borders, whether they be physical, social
or intellectual. In effect, the picture of Denis given through this intro-
ductory portion of the vita is of a hero who is noble, wise and of apos-
tolic descent, a powerful central figure in his society, but who, coming
from a city which was once central but has lost its primacy, turns his
light to the borders. With his conversion to Christianity he loses neither
his nobility nor his wisdom, but adds to these characteristics those of pas-
sion, desire and virility, traits which will become stronger as he nears the
end of his journey.
The themes found within Hilduin’s synopsis of the Pseudo-Dionysian
corpus (chapters nine through seventeen) are those of forgiveness, justice,
perception, knowing and unknowing, and these themes permeate the life
itself. The PBS stands out for this long inclusion of theological texts and
allows for the intriguing possibility of examining how the author under-
stood the theology of the saint (or misunderstood it, as the case may be)
and how this understanding affected his reading of the life of Denis.
6
Jaroslav Pelikan, ‘The Odyssey of Dionysian Spirituality,’ in Dionysius: The
Complete Works, translated by Colm Luibheid (New York and Mahwah, N.Y.:
Paulist Press, 1987), 26.

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2. Pseudo-Dionysius’s Arrival in the West
The works of Pseudo-Dionysius were known in the West by the end of

the sixth century since Gregory the Great refers to the Celestial Hierarchy,
apparently using a Latin translation.7 Denis the Areopagite was quoted
at a council held under Pope Gregory III in 731 which challenged icon-
oclasm. These same citations were later repeated at the Council of Paris
in 825. In 787, at the Second Council of Nicaea, the Areopagite’s works
were cited in support of restoring the cult of images. Pope Adrian I wrote
to Charlemagne in ca. 791 to persuade him to accept the Council’s deci-
sion. In his letter he cites Denis, the bishop of Athens, in favor of the
veneration of sacred images.8 The pope also cites the works in a letter
to Angilbert of Saint Riquier.9 The opus itself seems to have arrived in
Gaul around 758 when we have a letter from Pope Paul I to Pippin the
Younger in which he states that he is sending him some Greek works, a
grammar by Aristotle and the books of Denis the Areopagite.10 The out-
come of this gift is unknown and it is not until the reign of Louis the
Pious that the Areopagite’s works truly became well disseminated in the
West, largely thanks to Hilduin’s work on behalf of his abbey’s patron
saint.
In 824 envoys sent from Constantinople by Emperor Michael II (The
Stammerer, 820–829) met Louis the Pious in Rouen bearing gifts and
writings. (Hilduin may have been in Rome at this time.) They came to
assure peace between East and West and to discuss the question of images
which they wanted Louis to bring up with Pope Eugene II.11 The meeting
7
Salvatore Lilla, ‘Brief Notes on the Greek Corpus Areopagiticum in Rome dur-
ing the Early Middle Ages,’ Dionysius 19 (2002), 207.
8
David Luscombe, ‘Denys the Pseudo-Areopagite in the Middle Ages from
Hilduin to Lorenzo Valla,’ in Fälschungen im Mittelalter 1 (ed. Horst Fuhrmann;
Monumenta Germaniae Historica 33.1; Hannover: Hahn, 1988), 135.
9
Jean Irigoin, ‘Les Manuscrits Grecs de Denys l’Aréopagite en Occident, Les
Empereurs Byzants et l’Abbaye Royale de Saint-Denis en France’ in Denys L’Aréopagite
et sa Postérité en Orient et en Occident (ed. Ysabel de Andia; Actes du Colloque
International, 21–24 September 1994; Paris: Institut d’Études Augustiniennes,
1997), 19.
10
See Lilla for an argument that the texts are not actually those of Pseudo-
Dionysius, 202.
11
While the question of iconoclasm had first been resolved during the seventh
ecumenical council in 787, the question arose again in the East in the ninth cen-
tury and was finally settled in favor of images in 843.

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must have gone well as the next year, at Louis’ request, the Frankish
bishops met in Paris to discuss the question of iconoclasm. During this
council, which it is likely that Hilduin attended as archchaplain, Denis
the Areopagite was twice cited in support of the Eastern view on images.12
The bishops drafted a letter which they sent to Greece, tracing their prac-
tices concerning images back to the arrival in Gaul of Saint Denis, the
first pastor in Gaul, sent by Saint Clement. They also submitted a letter
to Louis, asking him to write to the pope.13 Therefore, even prior to
Louis’ problems in the 830s the character of Denis the Areopagite and
that of Denis of Paris have been brought together by implication.
In September of 827, Michael the Stammerer’s ambassadors returned
to Louis’ court, this time meeting in Compiegne. It was on this visit that
they gave Louis a copy of Denis the Areopagite’s works in Greek. It has
been surmised that it may have been Hilduin, with his interest in the
East, and in adding to the repute of his abbey’s saint, who suggested to
Louis that this might be a fitting gift from Michael.14 It is interesting that
the manuscript was not among the gifts given upon the first visit, which
was an intellectual mission. This suggests that the Greek ambassadors had
perhaps learned about Saint Denis of Paris on the first visit. Theodore,
treasurer of the Church of Constantinople, was on this mission. He had
an interest in hagiography and it is possible that he was the one who
announced to Byzantium the amazing discovery that Denis the Areopagite
had settled in Paris.
12
The citations come from Epistle 10 and the Celestial Hierarchy, David Luscombe,
‘The Reception of the Writings of Denis the Pseudo-Areopagite into England,’
in Tradition and Change: Essays in Honour of Marjorie Chibnall Presented by Her Friends
on the Occasion of Her Seventieth Birthday (ed. Diana Greenway, Christopher Holdsworth
and Jane Sayers; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 115–143.
Luscombe believes that Hilduin had significant influence at the council while
Moretus Plantin doubts that there was much influence on his part at this early
a time. Cf. Henri Moretus Plantin, ‘Les Passions de saint Denys,’ Mélanges offerts
au R.P. Ferdinand Cavallera (Toulouse, 1948), 229. There does not seem to be any
written evidence either way.
13
‘Synodus Pariensis,’ in Sacrorum conciliorum, nova et amplissima collection (ed.
Joannes Dominicus Mansi; Graz: Akademische Druck-u, Verlagsanstalt 14, 1960),
cols. 463–474.
14
Édouard Jeauneau, ‘L’Abbaye de Saint Denis Introductrice de Denys en
Occident’ in Denys L’Aréopagite et sa Postérité en Orient et en Occident, Actes du Colloque
International, Paris, 21–24 September 1994, (ed. Ysabel de Andia; Paris: Institut
d’Etudes Augustiniennes, 1997), 367.

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While some have seen this exchange of gifts as the genesis of the
Areopagite-Parisian legend, others have dated the conflation to an ear-
lier meeting of East and West. In any case, Louis handed the documents
over to the abbey and they were transferred there during the night of 8
October 827, on the eve of the feast of Denis, Rusticus and Eleutherius.
In a letter which Hilduin wrote to the Emperor, he describes the arrival
of the works and makes note that the original and the translation are in
his abbey. On that night, exposed in the abbey chapel, the documents
aided in nineteen healing miracles, according to this same letter.
The abbey went on to acquire two more Greek manuscripts of Denis
the Areopagite’s by the fifteenth century. Few doubted the apostolic dat-
ing of the Pseudo-Dionysian works. In the East, Photius and Arethas of
Caesarea did so in the ninth century, as did John of Antioch in the
twelfth, and a Gregorian monk named Simeon Petritsoneli realised in
1248 that the writings drew upon those of Proclus (410–485). With the
humanist spring cleaning, as Luscombe documents, both Erasmus and
Lorenzo Valla questioned the merging of Denis the Areopagite with Denis,
the author, and Denis of Paris, but it was not until 1895 that Stiglmayer
and Koch came up with conclusive disproof for the Pseudo-Areopagite’s
apostolic dates.15 Between 827 and 1895, therefore, there was ample time
for the Pseudo-Areopagite-pseudo-Parisian pastor to influence the Western
world with his mystical theology. This was accomplished in large part
thanks to Hilduin, the first translator of these works.
That Hilduin, and not his better-known competitor, John Scot Eriugena,
was the first translator of Pseudo-Dionysius’s work, was not established
until the 1930s when Théry proved that Hilduin first translated the works
of Pseudo-Dionysius and that Eriugena used this translation to do his
own. Théry uses Hilduin’s letter to Louis the Pious to show that Hilduin
read the Greek works and translated or had them translated at the abbey.
It seems most likely that Hilduin translated the Areopagite’s works at
Louis’ request some time after the rebellions.
3. Theosophus to Dionysius: Identity and Naming
The first chapter to the PBS is short and similar in both the poetry and
the prose. The prose itself resembles the Gloriosae 2:8, an earlier life of
Denis from the 5th century. What stands out in this introduction is the
fact that the main character, Denis, is not even introduced; he does not
15
Luscombe, ‘Denys the Pseudo-Areopagite in the Middle Ages,’ 133.

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appear until chapter five of the vita. By beginning with a discussion of

the apostles in the opening chapter, Hilduin is implying that Denis him-
self is one of the apostles, by virtue of having been converted by Paul.
The emphasis is on Christ bestowing authority upon the apostles, lead-
ing into Paul’s authority. The introduction ends with Paul’s journey to
Athens, a foreshadowing which brings to mind Denis, far before he is
introduced, and which also portends Denis’s mission to Paris. Paul’s impor-
tance is felt throughout the vita. He serves to link Denis directly to Jesus
and the apostles, foregoing a connection to Rome. This emphasis on
Denis’s primacy is also made with repeated references to the grandeur
and wisdom of Greece.
Denis’s identity as a Greek and disciple of Paul is important, there-
fore, for several reasons. One of these is the political goal of regaining
status for Louis the Pious apart from fealty to Rome. In addition to this,
Denis’s centrality and power are reinforced by the emphasis on his sta-
tus within Athenian society and his wisdom. Louis has been forced to
circumnavigate Rome and its primacy in order to regain his own power
since the pope had sided with his rebellious sons. This shift away from
Rome did not originate with Louis but with his grandfather, Pippin the
Younger, the first Carolingian king. As the Carolingians’ relations to Rome
and the papacy altered for political reasons, this shaped the way in which
the kings built and modified their national identity. Pippin often uses lan-
guage which opposes the impious Romans to the Frankish chosen peo-
ple while also gaining support from the pope in his overthrow of the last
Merovingian monarch, Childeric. Louis also separates himself from Rome
but rather than imitating his grandfather he models himself after Dagobert,
the last of the Merovingians to have any real power, and, therefore, a
powerful Frankish figure who was closely allied to a non-Roman saint,
Denis himself, whose cult Dagobert helped form. Hilduin links Paris to
the primacy and power of Athens and Jerusalem while de-emphasising
the role of Rome, conferring upon Louis the power of Dagobert as well
as that of Denis.
After this first chapter Hilduin continues the PBS with a long bor-
rowing from another ‘pseudo’, this one being ‘pseudo’-Aristarch the
Greek chronographer. Chapters two through eight of the PBS follow the
pseudo-Aristarchian letter closely, telling of Denis’s career in Athens, his
disputation with Paul, conversion by the apostle and ordination as bishop
of Athens by Paul. This Pseudo-Aristarchian letter was closely linked to
the Post Beatam et Gloriosam in Hilduin’s time and was always included in
the homily which was to be used on Saint Denis’s feast day. The letter
itself does not make the Areopagite connection but the homily within

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which it is contained does. It is its place within the homily, therefore,

that makes it truly relevant to Hilduin’s thesis. Pseudo-Aristarch is to be
identified with Aristarch, Paul’s fellow prisoner, found in Acts 19:29 and
Col. 4:10. Hilduin uses this letter, closely following it in chapters two
through eight of the PBS and adds extra details, including some material
by Isidore of Seville to expand the description of Athens.16 He also modifies
Paul’s statement of faith to bring it more in line with Western doctrine.
These sections are not merely laying out the landscape of Denis’s youth
but are, more importantly, emphasising the nobility of Denis’s place of
birth. In this case, as in many other examples, nobility and wisdom are
paired and nobility is linked to primacy: Athens is ‘ancient with the elo-
quence of writings, she has been called the father’s testicles and the
mother’s teat.’17
After the emphasis on the nobility and wisdom of the Athenians the
story then returns to Paul, arriving in Athens. In the next chapter Denis
is finally introduced, similarly in the poetry and prose:
so that his [Paul’s] teaching could be examined there by Theosophus

(namely he who knows God) who began calling himself Dionysius, on
account of his plenitude of divine knowledge of heavenly spirits – and
from that region of the city around the Areopagus where he was cur-
rently staying, and where he had been born, he used the term Areopagite
as if it was his own name – taken from the noblest blood of the first and
great Dionysus, not born of Semele or Deucalion, but of he who, inven-
tor of the vine, was clothed in his insignia by the Athenians, born from
a very long illustrious line.18
As with Athens, so now Denis is the one whose nobility and intelligence
are emphasised. The focus is on Denis as a central, noble figure in the
community. Both versions of the life link Denis directly to the Greek god
16
Giles Patrick Allen Brown, ‘Politics and Patronage at the Abbey of Saint-
Denis (814–98): The Rise of a Royal Patron-Saint’ (Ph.D. diss., University of
Oxford, 1989), 248.
17
‘Antiqua scriptorum facundia, paterna viscera et maternal ubera appellate,’
PBS chapter 2 in PL 106.
18
‘sua doctrina acciperet, adorsus est Dionysium, qui ob plenitudinem divinae
supernorum numinum scientiae, Theosophus, id est Deum sapiens, et a regione
urbis, qua sedulo commorabatur, et innatus principabatur, areopagita genuino
quasi vocabulo utebatur, altissimo sanguine primi et magni Dionysii, non illius
Semelae vel Deucalionis, sed ejus qui vitis inventor apud Athenas insignis est
habitus, longissima et clara propagine propagatus.’ (PBS 5)

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Dionysus. This god is seen as foreshadowing Jesus in his virgin birth, vio-
lent death and resurrection as well as being the god of wine. This con-
nection to the vine is foreshadowing Paris and Montmartre, the area
where vines grew and where Denis will find his new birth in martyrdom.
Here, also, Denis is already given two names. He was born Theosophus
but took the name Dionysius. Later his name is given as Dionysius
Macarius. The poetry gives the name in Greek while the prose version
of this section includes all of the same information and images but it
gives the name ‘Macarius’ in the Latin. Later, in the only other use of
Greek within the text, included within a discussion of the Mystical Theology,
another name for Denis is given, that of ala coeli [ala poli in the poetry]:
Wherefore by the wise among the Greeks then and today Denis is called
MAKOPYOYC, which the Latin language explains as ‘he who is the
wing of heaven’; because thither soaring with intelligence of spirit and
with the grace of most revered revelation, he has learned not only those
manifold and mysterious and magnificent and ministerial things of the
holy spirits, but also, truly tasting the flavour of the Eternal Godhead
with the palate of his heart, from whence these letters of human fame
were exhaled.19
This section contains the only Greek words in the whole prose vita. These
words are found both in the poetry and the prose and Hilduin feels
obliged to translate them for us. They appear nowhere in the Mystical
Theology itself. When the Greek word appears in the New Testament it
is always translated as ‘pinnacle’ ( pinnaculum or pinnam) in the Latin, never
as its second meaning, ‘wing’. Hilduin is thus not getting this Greek from
either the Bible or the Pseudo-Dionysian text, yet it seems to be of great
enough importance that he would add it to the text. This name reassures
the audience that eloquence and the voice continue to be central in
Denis’s mission and follow him from his noble, stable position in society
through his martyrdom, as the Holy Spirit remains within him.
Denis receives four names within the PBS, therefore: Dionysius, Macarius,
Theosophus and Ala Coeli. Two of these names are given in the Greek
and the other two are linked to Greece. The last three names do not
19
‘Quapropter a Graecorum sapientibus ex tunc et hodieque Dionysius PYOYC,
quod Latinus sermo explicat, ala coeli, vocatur; quia illuc spiritali intelligentia et
reverentissimae revelationis gratia evolans, non solum illa multimode et magnifica
et myeria ac ministerial sanctorum spirituum, verum et sempiternae Deitatis
saporem palato cordis degustans, didicit, unde haec humanae notitiae literis eruc-
tavit.’ (PBS 12)

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appear in lives of Saint Denis prior to the PBS, nor do they reappear in
Hrotswit of Gandersheim or Aelfric of Eynsham’s versions, though Jacobus
de Voragine is pleased to include them in his preface concerning Denis’s
name. The names serve both to emphasise Denis’s Greek ancestry and
his knowledge. Naming is also important to Pseudo-Dionysius, who spends
the entire Divine Names discussing names for God. This interest in nam-
ing is part of the Pseudo-Dionysian theology of a transcendent God,
beyond human knowing, yet revealed proportionally to each one’s capac-
ity of knowing.
Denis’s identity so far has emphasised his centrality and nobility, his
standing within the Athenian community due to his wisdom and ancient
family origins. His conversion to Christianity does not affect this. As a
noble he is quickly invested with the power of being a bishop by Paul
and continues his civic supervision of the people much as he would have
as a pagan.
4. A River of Mystical Eloquence: The Pseudo-Dionysian Works
In chapters nine through seventeen of the vita Hilduin not only uses the
works of the saint to emphasise his wisdom, as he has emphasised it in
previous chapters, but uses the theological works to make several points,
two of which are linked to his historical situation: primarily he is rein-
forcing the Areopagitic identification and the primacy of Denis as an
apostolic figure; secondly he is urging Louis the Pious to forgive his eldest
son Lothar. In addition to this Hilduin is emphasising certain aspects of
Pseudo-Dionysian theology which may reveal his understanding of hagiog-
raphy and of Denis’s life, namely the importance of desire, perception
and its limits, voice and naming, and the possibility of sanctification.
5. Areopagitic Identification
Hilduin begins the letter to Louis which precedes the PBS with a verse
from 1 Samuel 2:1: ‘Exultavit cor meum in Domino, et exaltatum est
cornu meum in Deo meo.’20 This phrase opens the vita with two of the
20
‘exultavit cor meum in Domino exaltatum est cornu meum in Domino dilata-
tum est os meum super inimicos meos quia laetata sum in salutari tuo’ 1 Sam.
2:1. ‘Latin original’ [My mouth is wide open (distended, boasts) in the Lord and
my lips rejoice in my Lord.]

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themes that infuse it, using both a play on words and an emphasis on
the body and the voice. It links the letter to the main vita with its visual
imagery of mouths and voice, and the subject of Areopagitic identification
is key in both. ‘Exultavit Cor Meum’ includes a list of sources that spread
from sections three through twelve. These sources serve not only as a
bibliography of sorts, but are also (and more importantly) rooted in
Hilduin’s defense of the Areopagitic identification. In the ‘Letter to the
Faithful’ which follows Hilduin continues with this defense. He begins by
asserting that parts of Denis’s deeds have long been buried in the histo-
ries of the Greeks and the book chests of the Latins. He justifies lack of
knowledge concerning the Areopagitic identification thus:
Moreover, we think that nobody of sound mind would accept this less,
because they had not been discovered in a prior time, when clearly he
may get to know what He who created all did not wish to unveil all at
the same time or all at once but much was brought to light a second
time which had been hidden by time.21
Following this statement, Hilduin reiterates the arguments which he made

in his letter to Louis concerning Gregory of Tours and Bede, who do
not support the Areopagitic identification, while pointing the reader towards
‘the historian Eusebius of Caesarea, and Aristarch the Greek Chronographer
in his letter to Onesiphorus and the record of Visbius.’22
Within the passion itself, Hilduin’s interest in championing the Areopagitic
identification is most clearly demonstrated in his emphasis on proper
names found in the Pseudo-Dionysian corpus and in his insistence on the
letters, as mentioned by Théry, who sees it as part of Hilduin’s interest
in biography.23 By placing Denis within a historical setting Hilduin rein-
forces his apostolic importance. The list of proper names begins with the
first sentence of chapter nine: ‘As he wrote at the same time to Timothy,
the bishop of Ephesus and his co-disciple.’24
21
‘Ceterum neminem sani capitis haec minus acceptari putamus, quia anteriori
tempore reperta non fuerant, cum liquido noscat, quod is qui creavit omnia, simul
noluit revelari cuncta vel cunctis in semel multaque manifesta iterum esse tempore
occultata’. Hilduin, ‘Cum nos Scriptura’ in Patrologia Latina, Cursus Completus, Series
Secunda 106 (1864): 22.
22
‘atque aliorum quorumque sine auctoritate jactatur – Eusebii Caesariensis
historiam, et Aristarchi Graecorum chronographi ad Onesiphorum primicerim
epistolam, et Visbii conscriptionem . . .’ PL 106, 22.
23
Théry, ‘Hilduin et la Première Traduction des Ecrits du Pseudo-Denis,’ 34.
24
‘Scripsit et per idem tempus ad Timotheum Ephesiorum episcopum, suum
autem condiscipulum.’ (PBS 9)

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Within the theological works (as opposed to the Pseudo-Dionysian let-

ters) this emphasis on name-dropping is particularly striking in Hilduin’s
discussion of the Divine Names, or Symbolic Theology as he also calls it, con-
fusing the Divine Names with the book which Pseudo-Dionysius says fol-
lows it, although it is not apparent that this treatise was ever written.25
This may already speak to a confusion in translation. In the paragraph
which covers chapter three, Hilduin names Hierotheus, James, Peter, John,
Timothy and Paul, and stresses the Divine Names’ mention of Mary’s dor-
mition at which Denis was present, using the Pseudo-Dionysian phrase
‘that source of life’ to describe Mary.26 When Hilduin does more than
merely give the titles to the chapters of the Divine Names, he does so mostly
to include names of people mentioned in the book: Ignatius, Clement,
Simon the Magician, Elias the Magician. The importance of these last
three men lies also in the fact that Denis and his friends bested them in
philosophy. This reinforces Hilduin’s constant assertions that Denis was
a great philosopher and author.
It is not until three chapters later, discussing Pseudo-Dionysius’s ‘Letter
to Polycarp,’ that the importance of biographical notes reasserts itself.
Unlike Pseudo-Dionysius himself, who merely hints at whom he is refer-
ring to, Hilduin gives us the full identity of Polycarp, beginning with:
‘To that same Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, truly to the disciple of blessed
John the apostle.’27 The authorship of this letter as it is found in the PBS
has been greatly contested. It is significant that this is one of only three
texts from which Hilduin gives extensive excerpts, but that very little of
it, even in the section of the letter which can be found in Pseudo-Dionysius’s
letter to Polycarp itself, comes directly from the Pseudo-Dionysian text.
The emphasis is squarely on an eleventh letter, Denis’s letter to Apollo-
phanius, which is embedded within the letter to Polycarp. This eleventh
letter has often been credited to Hilduin himself. It is not found in his
Greek sources, nor does it appear in his translation of Pseudo-Dionysius,
but only in the PBS. It seems improbable that the Greek manuscript
which he was using contained the letter, even though pages are now miss-
ing, especially since he did not translate it the first time and neither did
John Scot Eriugena. Also, if it had appeared in the Greek it seems improb-
able that Hilduin would have gone to the trouble of citing (what appears
to be) the whole text in the PBS, as he does so for only one other letter,
that to John.
25
Divine Names 984A, in Dionysius: The Complete Works, 131.
26
‘vitae principis’ PBS 11, Théry, 194.
27
‘Polycarpo etiam Smyrneoram episcopo, beati videlicet Joannis apostolic dis-
cipulo.’ (Ibid.)

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There is no mention of this letter in Greek or Latin sources of any

kind until Hilduin quotes it and it never appears again in any transla-
tions of Pseudo-Dionysius. The letter pleads with Apollophanius to return
to Christ and tells of the eclipse of the sun which Denis saw on the day
when Christ was crucified. This event at Heliopolis can, however, also
be found in the letter to Polycarp. The new letter adds only the infor-
mation that Denis was twenty-five at the time. Théry surmises that Hilduin
brought together the letter to Polycarp and the tradition concerning Denis’s
age and wrote this letter to add to our knowledge of Saint Denis.28
However, why would Hilduin have gone to all this trouble to add so lit-
tle information and where would he have gotten his source concerning
Denis’s age? This detail can be found in Maximus the Confessor and
also in John of Scythopolis. John of Scythopolis wrote a Scholia and
Prologue to Pseudo-Dionysius’s work in the sixth century. The source
could, therefore, be Athens as well as Saint-Denis. As the original letter
to Apollophanius from which Hilduin is quoting is not available it is
impossible to tell how closely Hilduin is following this text and how much
he is adding.29 However, a phrase taken from the original Pseudo-Dionysian
text does appear near the end of the letter (‘My dear Dionysius, these
portend changes in the doings of God’),30 so it is evident that the origi-
nal author was doing some embedding also, to bring the letter fully into
the Pseudo-Dionysian corpus. The emphasis on the eclipse is strong in
this letter, and may be the reason Hilduin includes it so completely,
as will be discussed below. The letter remains a mystery but there seems
to be no sound argument linking it to Hilduin since it adds so little to
his case.
The final letter, that to the apostle John in exile on Patmos, is given
verbatim in both the prose and poetry. As Paul Rorem remarks, this let-
ter is tangential to the major concerns of the other letters.31 In the Pseudo-
Dionysian text itself, as in Hilduin’s use of it, it seems to serve the same
purpose, to emphasise Denis’s closeness to the apostle John. In all of the
examples given above, Hilduin uses the names of others to strengthen his
claim that Denis the theologian is the same person as the man found in
28
Théry, ‘Hilduin et la Première Traduction,’ 37.
29
Michael Lapidge is working on translating this letter from the Latin back
into Greek. Private correspondence to Paul Rorem, undated.
30
‘Ista o bone Dionysi, divinarum retributions sunt rerem,’ Théry, Etudes
Dionysiennes II, 315.
31
Paul Rorem, Pseudo-Dionysius: A Commentary on the Texts and an Introduction to
Their Influence (New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1993), 28.

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Acts, and by extension, the same person as the bishop of Paris. In addi-
tion to this, the extensive use of names of philosophers who were refuted
by Denis reinforces the image of Denis as an important church theolo-
gian. These names, therefore, not only serve the simple biographical use
of putting Denis within his historical context, but also, most importantly,
emphasise that Denis was not only a disciple of Paul, but also a friend
of John and an intimate of all the apostles.
Connected to this biographical theme is the weight that is put upon
Denis’s eloquence and brilliance as a theologian. Much of the writing in
these chapters that is not directly quoting from the Pseudo-Dionysian text
is dedicated to this rhapsodising, over any real emphasis on the content
of the text itself. Beginning with the short introduction to the Celestial
Hierarchy the emphasis is on skill over content:
And he wrote at the same time to Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus, his co-
disciple, using a heavenly style and glittering language, showing that he
was full of the same divine food by which the angels lived, concerning
the heavenly leadership – that is concerning the ranks of angels – with
egregious eloquence, and with reverent and profound intelligence, so that
truly his mouth placed him in heaven when he spoke of heavenly things,
where his heart and conversation resided.32
In summary, much of Hilduin’s original text in the chapters concerning

the writings of Denis is dedicated to promoting Denis as a theologian
rather than in expounding his theology. This is consistent with the typ-
ical hagiographical modus operandi in which the saint’s gifts are elaborated.
Hilduin emphasises not only that Denis is an apostle, by virtue of his
relations to the apostles, but also that his theology is central to the Church,
that it has won out against many wrong-thinking theologies, and that it
is divinely inspired. By stressing the primacy both of Denis’s age and of
his theology, Hilduin bypasses Rome and Roman authority, to instead
receive authority straight from Paul and from Denis’s inspired authorship.
32
‘Scripsit et per idem tempus ad Timotheum Ephesiorum episcopum, suum
autem condiscipulum, divino usus stylo, fulguranti sermone, se ejusdem panis
verbo quo vivunt angeli repletum ostendens, de coelesti principatu, id est de
ordinibus angelorum insigni eloquentia, et reverenda profundissimaque intelli-
gentia, sicut revera in qui in coelo os suum posuerat, cum de coelestibus loque-
batur, ubi corde et conversatione degebat. Haec, inquit, per sequential capitula
sufficientissime disserens.’ (PBS 9)

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6. Forgiveness: ‘We do not Torment the Blind, We Lead Them

by the Hand’
The Areopagitic identification is clearly important as a propaganda tool

in Louis’ restoration as Hilduin reinforced Denis’s apostolic beginnings,
his primacy and nobility, to bring new strength to Louis’ reign. The
theme of forgiveness is also politically motivated. During Lothar’s first
rebellion, in 830, Hilduin had sided with the son, and had been stripped
of his monasteries and exiled to spend the winter in a campaign tent
near Paderborn. His student, Hincmar, was in Aachen at the time of the
revolt. He was prepared to follow his teacher into exile but was able
instead to intervene for Hilduin who returned to Saint-Denis in 832.
(When Louis the Pious died in 840 Hilduin again sided with Lothar,
reneging an oath of fealty he had made to Charles the Bald two years
prior.)33 Therefore, forgiveness is necessary both for Hilduin’s return to
power and for that of the son whom he supports, Lothar. Letter Eight
to the monk Demophilius (found in chapter fifteen of the prose) is of par-
ticular interest both in terms of biography and theology. This is the only
letter which Hilduin prefaces by calling it a ‘very useful letter’34 and the
sections of the text which Hilduin concentrates upon are clearly about
forgiveness and generosity. In his commentary on this letter Rorem writes
that the text is about disrupted ecclesiastical order and the transmission
of authority, humility and generosity.35 Hilduin, however, concentrates on
the theme of forgiveness and uses large excerpts from the Pseudo-Dionysian
letter. For example:
Those who do not know must be taught, not tormented, we do not tor-
ment the blind, we lead them by the hand. And in His goodness He
goes to look for the one who is lost, and calls after him when he is run-
ning away and as soon as He comes upon him He takes him on His
shoulders.36
33
Nithard, Histoires des Fils de Louis le Pieux (ed. and trans. Ph. Lauer; Paris:
Librairie Ancienne Honoré Champion, 1926), 45.
34
‘valde utilem scripsit epistolam,’ PBS 15.
35
Rorem, 18–19.
36
‘Docere enim, non cruciare, oportet ignorantes, sicut et caecos non crucia-
mus, sed manducimus. Benigmus namque errantem inquirit, et refugientem vocat,
atque vix inventum in humeris tollit.’ Matt. 18:12, Luke 15:5. Translation taken
from Dionysius: The Complete Works, 278.

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Pseudo-Dionysius adds that a high priest must be ‘merciful,’ able to

‘sympathise with our weaknesses’ and ‘gentle.’ After this homiletic intro-
duction, the second part of the text is an anecdote whose lesson is also
forgiveness. Hilduin gives this part of the text almost in its entirety from
the original. It concerns a Saint Carpos who is having trouble with apos-
tates. In a vision Saint Carpos sees a hell in which the apostates are
being tormented. He is delighted by this and forgets Christ whom he saw
earlier in heaven with the angels. Christ then proceeds to save the men
from hell and reprimands Carpos for his uncharitable thoughts.
Unlike the Apollophanian letter that Hilduin needed to insert as it was
not in the original text, or the letter to John, which emphasises the
Areopagitic identification, this letter has an application which lies outside
of the vita and its original context. This application is political, as Hilduin,
returned to the Abbey of Saint-Denis, pleads for Louis, the ‘high priest,’
to be merciful with his own ‘lost lamb,’ Lothar, to give him preferen-
tial treatment in fact. The importance of this message is doubled as
Hilduin first repeats the Dionysian sermon form, giving us examples of
forgiveness and humility in the New Testament and general dictates, and
then uses the hagiographical form, as he re-tells the story of a saintly
man ‘with a mind so purified as to be receptive to the sight of God’37
who nevertheless ‘felt within himself something he had not experienced
before, a great hostility and bitterness.’38 Here Hilduin reassures Louis
that even the holiest of men can fall prey to desires for revenge, but that,
ultimately, if they turn their eyes to heaven, they will see the example of
the forgiving Jesus on his throne, rather than the judgmental one. Humility
was an important virtue for a ninth-century leader, one which Louis him-
self admired and which did not necessarily mean a loss of power, as
noted in his first show of public penance in 822 at Attigny for his nephew
Bernard’s blinding and consequent death. After a second, highly humil-
iating forced public penance at Soissons in 833, however, Hilduin may
have felt the need to remind Louis of the positive side of humility once
more. This text is important in the vita as it is the only time in which
Hilduin seems to step out of the passion and insert himself into the text,
bringing current political issues clearly to the forefront. The fact that he
does so here makes it clear that these issues were important to him and
may be found in other aspects of the vita.
37
‘Per multam mentis munditiam ad Dei visions dignissimus.’ (PBS 15)
38
‘Et nescio quo modo multa quadam infestione et amaritudine tabescens.’
(PBS 15)

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Jesus himself appears in this vision, as he will appear again in Denis’s

prison. This image of the merciful Christ enthroned stands out here as
the rest of the vita emphasises the more traditional juridical Christ. Justice
(iure, etc.) is central to Christ’s mission, he is called the ‘sun of justice’
and Denis warns that he is ‘about to come to judge the living and the
dead.’39 Thus, while the theme of forgiveness is predominant in this chap-
ter, the vision of Christ throughout is a more triumphal, regal one of
judge. Denis is in imitation of this Christ as he serves as a judge over
the Athenians both prior to and after his conversion. By extension he is
a perfect saint for the emperor, able to judge the righteousness of his
cause yet forgiving of those who stray.
7. Light and Dark: Knowing and Unknowing
The turning point in Denis’s life is an event told three times in the vita
and one whose language of darkness and light permeates the whole vita.
This story is told in chapter five and then repeated once in the letter to
Polycarp and once in detail in that to Apollophanius. The account is that
of Denis’s trip to Heliopolis with Apollophanius during which he experi-
ences the eclipse that occurs at Christ’s death. Its importance is twofold:
first, once again there is the reminder that Denis is an apostle by virtue
of having witnessed Christ’s death, even if he was not present at the
crucifixion, and by virtue of having understood the meaning of the eclipse;
second, images of darkness and light, knowing and unknowing, are brought
forward. In the letter to Apollophanius two long paragraphs describe the
eclipse. Aside from the language describing the eclipse itself, the letter is
filled with images of darkness and light. The glory of the Father is said
‘to radiate splendor into the darkness of your mind’40 and later he is
called ‘He who darkens me with brightness.’41 It is during the eclipse
that Denis’s conversion begins as he understands that the event is trans-
formative and what it signifies, though he cannot name the ‘unknown
God.’ Thus when Paul arrives he is only speaking into their ‘undeter-
mined’ ears, as Denis already knows that a great mystery exists. The lan-
guage dwells on images of light and dark, secrets and knowledge and so
the sense is given that while Denis was fully converted by Paul, his jour-
39
‘Iustitie solem,’ (Passio Metrica S. Dionysii. Unpublished. Michael Lapidge, PBS
Poetry IV:215.) ‘Venturum ad judicandos vivos et mortuos.’ (PBS 26)
40
‘Gloriae splendorem in tuae mentis tenebras radiare.’ (PBS 14)
41
‘Cujus me fulgore obtenebrans.’ (PBS 14)

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ney to Christianity and sainthood had begun prior to this, through a

secret immediate knowledge of God which he experienced with
Apollophanius. Apollophanius, meanwhile, also receives the knowledge
but is unable to grasp it:
The knowledge for which you hunger leaps to your mental palate, but
scorning it, it refuses to take a seat in the stomach of your mind. But if
you bear an inquisitive and circumspect heart, receive it, lest you should
take false things for true.42
This imagery of food, body and mind is also found in the section on the
Mystical Theology as Denis ‘truly tasting the flavour of the Eternal Godhead
with the palate of his heart, from whence these letters of human fame
were exhaled.’43 This use of food and body imagery to discuss under-
standing and knowledge is prevalent throughout the PBS, emphasising
body/mind integrity and attainment of knowledge through physical and
emotional as well as intellectual means, which is paramount in a mar-
tyr’s life. This presentiment, in which Apollophanius does not share, estab-
lishes Denis once again as an apostle, as he is not entirely dependent on
Paul for his knowledge of God, but merely for the full understanding of
what he has experienced already.
Denis’s transformation begins not due to light but to its absence, the
eclipse; this darkness is associated with the emphasis given throughout
the vita and the Pseudo-Dionysian corpus to secrets and mysteries. Darkness,
or unknowing, for Pseudo-Dionysius is not merely deprivation but also
transcendence. Darkness is not only an absence of light but is also beyond
light, superior to it just as unknowing is not only deprivation or lack of
knowledge but also the recognition that something is beyond the limits
of human knowing. This is central in ‘Letter One to Gaius,’ which is
paraphrased at length in the PBS:
And he wrote a letter to Gaius, arguing reasonably how by a certain

unknowing God might be known, and how He may be seen by those
who are entrusted to see Him, and that He is somehow perceived by
those possessing a blessed and sacred gift, and that not only the nature
42
‘Ut inhiabas, mentali palato se resultabat, et dedignans, in ventre tuae noti-
tiae sedem sumere abnuebat. Sic, si modo cognoscentia et provida corda gerens,
suscipe, ne pro his qui non sunt, est verum temutes.’ (PBS 14)
43
‘Verum et sempiternae Deitatis saporem palato cordis degustans, didicit, unde
haec humanae notitiae literis eructavit.’ (PBS 12)

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of Christ’s divinity, but also of His humanity, remain hidden from lan-
guage and unknown to the intellect.44
‘Letter Five,’ to Dorotheus the deacon, also dwells upon this unknow-
ing or darkness. In the prose version of the PBS, Hilduin glosses over the
content. In writing the poetry Hilduin seems to have had more time to
decipher the meaning of this short letter:
He sent pertinent writings to his servant Dorotheus;

Through studying them he marveled at these writings, just as an obliging
mirror,
By which both something distorted and beautiful is revealed.
Let him learn to disdain the internal deceits of the mind
And truly look upon the gleaming rays of light,
For in an incredible way he has set his pen upon the heights
And almost as though calling forth the deep from the mouth of the Deity,
He prefers in his heart that which is born in the writings of the holy
For indeed that which the obscurity of God reports is very mysterious.
That light is unapproachable to all who breathe air
Where God resides perpetually, without limits, alone.
And that each in this mortal body was worthy
To know, to see, and at once to perform worthy deeds, as permitted,
Just as the statement of Paul demonstrates:
Anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. (1 Cor 6:17)45
44
‘Sed et Gaio scripsit epistolam, per sententias disserentem, quomodo quadam
ignorantia, cognoscatur Deus, et quomodo visus sit ab his, qui eum vidisse legun-
tur: et quod benignifico et deifico munere aliquo modo intelligatur, et quod non
solum divinitatis, sed et humanitatis Christi ministerium, et dictu arcanum maneat,
et intellectu ignotum.’ (PBS 13)
45
‘Apta Dorotheo transmisit scripta ministro
Quo velut hec speculum studio miratus amenum,
Per quod distortum quoddam pulchrumque patescit.
Internos discat mentis contemnere fucos
Et vere radios lucis spectare choruscos
Miro namque modo calamum defixit in altum
Vix velut eliciens deitatis ab ore profundum
Pectoribus mavult scriptis quod ferre piorum
Nempe Dei caligo refert quod valde profunda.
Lux sit inaccessa cunctis spirantibus aura
Qua Deus inhabitet iugiter sine limite solus.
Quisquis et hoc fuerit mortali in corpore dignus
Scire videre simul dum fas condigna patrare

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This second interpretation of the Fifth Letter includes more Pseudo-

Dionysian theology. In both he has held on to the biblical term ‘lucem
inaccessibilem’ (1 Tim 6:16). In the poetry Hilduin has also developed
the sense that knowledge is not the way and he plays with the images
of darkness and depth, yet never quite captures the Pseudo-Dionysian
insight that God is beyond all things, surpassing all conception. Hilduin’s
struggle with negative theology is perhaps most succinctly exemplified in
this example. While he may not do Dionysian theology justice he is aware
of the importance of this negative theology and works it into the vita
throughout.
Denis is first called Theosophus, ‘he who knows God,’ yet admits that
there is an ‘unknown God’ and especially after his conversion this lan-
guage of negative theology continues. This is illustrated not only in the
continuous use of light and dark imagery but also in the many discus-
sions of things that are perceptible and others which are not. Apollophanius
is said to speak ‘with speech not of human perception’46 and in the last
chapter of the PBS Hilduin writes: ‘Discourse alone is unable to inter-
pret the prominence of these miracles, nor are human minds able to
understand it by themselves. Neither reputation of honor nor the lofty
languages of pondering humanity is able to reach this understanding.’47
Thus there is a constant interplay between the sensual, visible and per-
ceptible and the divine, invisible, imperceptible and unknowable. This
tension is at the center of the saint’s life as it is at the center of Pseudo-
Dionysian theology. It is this tension which leads the saint on his journey.
This language of light and dark continues throughout the vita and pre-
cedes the story of the eclipse. The use of light/dark imagery begins early
on as Paul is said to have scattered the darkness of Athens with the light
of faith. Paul continues to bring light as after he meets Denis the apos-
tle sends a blind man whom he has cured to Denis calling for his bap-
tism. As Denis himself becomes a missionary he is the one who spreads
light in the darkness of the West, a darkness which represents the edges
of civilisation and knowledge. The continued uses of the term ‘sun’ or
‘Phoebus’ for Jesus as well as continued light rhetoric are based on the
Suffragratur huic talis sententia Pauli

Spiritus est unus Domino qui dignus adheret.’
(PBS Poetry II: 154–170)
46
‘Non humani sensus sermone.’ (PBS 14)
47
‘Quorum miraculorum insignia, non solum sermo non praevalet enarrare;
verum nec ipsis queunt humanis mentibus comprehendi. Unde nec dignitas honoris
et magnificentiae eorum hominis cogitatu potest attingi.’ (PBS 36)

R&T 13,3-4_F2_219-246 11/8/06 6:48 PM Page 240
divine light topos in the Gospel of John. They are complemented by the
Pseudo-Dionysian understanding of mystery and discernment. In addition
to these symbols of light, symbols of darkness, eclipse and death are
prominent throughout the PBS and are linked to Denis’s liminality as he
advances towards his martyrdom. His headlessness will be his ultimate
liminality, accompanied by the images of angels and women, symbols of
outsiders with power. These liminal images of darkness and eclipse are
important to both Pseudo-Dionysian theology and to the PBS. The let-
ter to Apollophanius is a central moment of liminality as two men find
themselves in the dark, defenseless and open to a great change. Denis
welcomes that change but Apollophanius rejects it with his intellect.
8. Secrecy and Sanctification
Tied to imagery of light and dark, the emphasis on secrecy and knowl-
edge is apparent once again when Hilduin next focuses upon the major
treatises. To begin with, he spends very little time on The Celestial Hierarchy
and The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. Following the introduction of the Celestial
Hierarchy Hilduin merely gives the chapter heading titles. The only time
he strays from these headings is when he adds a definition for the term
‘hierarchy,’ ‘that is, sacred leadership.’48 Indeed, his interest in angelol-
ogy, if it exists, shows up more vividly in the next chapter, that con-
cerning The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. Here again he gives a short introduction
followed by chapter headings. In this introduction, unlike that to The
Celestial Hierarchy, there is more content concerning the text itself.
The poetic version of the text, while it follows the content of the prose,
is clearer and more detailed. To begin with, the poetry emphasises secrecy
in its introduction to The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy:
I will reveal the whirlpools [difficulties] of things hidden by cloak,

In which the prudent man shows as if an evident person all the things
That occur in the sacred rites and cultivation of the divine mystery.49
The emphasis on secrecy here may have to do with audience. As Pseudo-

Dionysius is speaking to an initiated audience, so is Hilduin when he
48
‘Id est, sacer principatus.’ (PBS 9)
49
‘Verticibus refluo clausarum syrmate rerum,
In quibus ostendit ceu prudens cuncta patentem
Que fiunt sacris in cultibus mysteriique.’
(PBS Poetry, Book II:10)

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writes in verse, addressing the royal court. In The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy,

Pseudo-Dionysius writes that symbolism is used because of ‘the profane
from whom the symbols were to be kept out of reach’; they are both a
means of secrecy and one of accommodation.50
Secrecy and initiation are also part of becoming a Christian in the life
of Denis, as in the letter to Apollophanius Denis writes: ‘I say, “to which
of these the mirror of the teachings of Apollophanius do you ascribe these
secrets?”’51 Hilduin had some understanding of Pseudo-Dionysian sym-
bolism and its use as an initiatory device, one that kept the secrets of
the language of God hidden, and it is linked to Denis’s nobility and wis-
dom early on in the narrative.
Hilduin’s introduction then concentrates on the chapters having to do
with Eucharist and Ointment (chrismate). Within these chapters he con-
centrates on the roles of angels and priests, describing the Eucharist at
great length. Here the description of the Eucharist reverberates with one
found much later in the passion, in chapter twenty-nine, as once again
Christ and the angels participate in the Eucharist with Denis during his
imprisonment. While Hilduin does not use the same language in the
prison scene as in his translation of Pseudo-Dionysius concerning the
Eucharist (he uses the terms collacione and communionem in his translation
and refers to it as ‘Dominica missarum solemnia’ in the prose prison
section) the prison scene does include a multitude of angels surrounding
Jesus as well as a divine light which may be a Pseudo-Dionysian influence
in that he writes that the holy sacraments ‘pass the light of God on to
the initiates.’52 While there is some vague connection, Hilduin’s empha-
sis during the prison communion does not seem to be so much on hier-
archy or a theology of Eucharist as on Christ’s speech which serves to
reassure Denis that he is beloved of God and that his followers will also
be rewarded.
Hilduin’s interest in angels, which will be manifest throughout the life,
however, continues in the brief description of chapter four of the Ecclesiastical
Hierarchy, concentrating on the section concerning the seraphim:
The other worthies ranked like invisible Seraphim

Whom the vision of the Lord certainly always burns,
Surrounding sweet Jesus, sing his praises,
Who sanctifies us as he is most holy,
50
The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 1:5 in Dionysius: The Complete Works.
51
‘Quid, inquam, speculum doctrinae Apollophani, his secretis ascribis?’ (PBS 14)
52
PBS 3:1.

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Blessing himself, most mild, therefore also us,

Surely sons of God, we are sanctified in Him.53
In this section there is the repetition of words commencing in ‘sancti . . .,’

these words are found in this phrase and elsewhere in the vita. This
emphasis on sanctification is found in The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy itself, where
Pseudo-Dionysius repeatedly discusses both sanctification and divinisation
and the role of rites in this divinisation. He writes: ‘. . . divinization con-
sists of being as much as possible like and in union with God. . . . It [the
blessed Deity] has bestowed hierarchy as a gift to ensure the salvation
and divinization of every being endowed with reason and intelligence.’54
This is an aspect of Pseudo-Dionysian theology which works well within
a vita, as the saint is a representation of our possible divinisation. Perception,
in this case, aids the saint and his onlookers in their quest for spiritual
knowledge, a quest which must lead them past the senses and intellec-
tual knowing in order to be truly uplifted to sanctification.
In his reading of The Mystical Theology Hilduin clearly senses the heart
of Pseudo-Dionysian thought, as he spends time on the text prior to giv-
ing chapter headings:
. . . concerning mystical theology through cataphasin, that is affirmation,

and through apophasin, that is negation, and through hypothesis, that is,
conditional syllogisms, all sensible and intelligible (things), both which are
on earth and in the heavens, surpassing by perception, and as is possible
and lawful to mortals, continuously penetrating the shrine of the godhead.55
It is noteworthy that Hilduin understands the centrality of these terms to

the Dionysian theology, though he does little more than give definitions
53
‘Prestantes seraphin reliquos velut ordine cecum.
Nimirum Domini quem visio semper adurit
Circumstare canit Iesum cum laude benignum
Sanctificat qui nos cum sit sanctissimus idem.
Se quoque sanctificans nostrum mitissimus ergo.
Nempe Deo nati qui sanctificamur in ipso.’
(PBS Poetry, Book II: 31–36)
54
The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 1:3–4 in Dionysius: The Complete Works.
55
‘De mystical theologia per cataphasin, id est affirmationem, et per apophasin,
id est negationem, atque per hypotheticos, id est, conditionals syllogismos, omnia
sensibilia et intelligibilia, et quae in terra sunt, et quae in coelo, sensu transcen-
dens, ac prout mortali possible est atque licitum, usque ad ipsius divinitatis sacrar-
ium penetrans.’ (PBS 12)

R&T 13,3-4_F2_219-246 11/8/06 6:48 PM Page 243
at this point; reinforcing Roques’ point that Hilduin ‘does not seem to
have correctly understood the Dionysian opposition between negative and
positive theology.’56 While this may be the case, he does seem to have
an understanding of questions of perception and surpassing perception
and the senses, as these are themes and terms which reappear not only
in his discussion of Pseudo-Dionysian theology, but throughout the text.
The letters serve as an introduction to Pseudo-Dionysian theology, 57
and Hilduin spends rather more time on theology in the section con-
cerning the letters, beginning with that to Gaius. Besides the section on
unknowing as knowledge which is found in the first letter, Hilduin focuses
on the fourth letter, concerning the concept of Jesus as man of God:
. . . how Jesus, who is above all, was placed on earth physically for mankind
that He physically partook of human nature, as the most excellent vir-
gin, giving birth to Him, demonstrated, just as unstable water may sus-
tain material and earthly weight. And that kind Jesus did not perform so
many divine acts due to a separate divine nature, nor did He perform
so many human acts due to His human nature, but made Man of God,
He brought forth new works, human and divine.58
This section of the letter, which Hilduin gives often verbatim, was a con-
troversial one as Pseudo-Dionysius seems to be hinting at monophysite
tendencies in opposition to the Council of Chalcedon of 451. This is
more evident in the modern translation of the last phrase, than it is in
Hilduin’s translation, however:
Furthermore, it was not by virtue of being God that he did divine things,
not by virtue of being a man that he did what was human, but rather,
by the fact of being God-made-man he accomplished something new in
our midst, the activity of the God-man.59
56
‘ne semble pas avoir correctement compris l’opposition dionysienne entre
théologie négative et théologie affirmative,’ René Roques, Libres Sentiers vers l’Erigénisme
(Rome: Edizioni dell’Ateneo, 1975), 121.
57
Rorem, 6.
58
‘Et quomodo Jesus, qui est super omnia, hominibus est substantialiter con-
stitutus, et quod secundum homines, de hominum substantia, substantialiter est
substantiates, sicut ostendit virgo superexcellenter pariens, et aqua instabilis, mate-
rialem et terrestrem gravitatem sustinens: et quod non divise secundum Deum
tantum divina egit benignus Jesus, neque humana tantum secundum hominem:
sed vir Dei factus, novam quamdam Dei virilem operationem nobis percivilitavit.’
(PBS 13)
59
Dionysius: The Complete Works, 265.

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In the poetry the translation is similar to this in that Jesus is referred to

as Man-God (vir-deus)60 rather than as Man-of-God (vir Dei ) as in the
prose. There is a significant theological distinction between the two phrases,
but whether this is one that Hilduin made himself or whether this is sim-
ply a later copyist’s error is uncertain. Hilduin’s prose translation, whether
purposefully or by errors in translation, does not make the monophysitic
point so strongly, and can in fact be read to understand a greater human-
ity for Christ. This understanding of Christ’s humanity is in accord with
other doctrinal discussions of Christ throughout the vita since, as noted,
Christ’s role as judge is mitigated by his compassion. While the poetry
calls Jesus ‘Man-God’ it also emphasises his humanity:
He does not omit this: that Jesus, above all things,

Was made a man in the manner of a created being,
Created rightly with the material of human flesh
As the most excellent Virgin, giving birth to Him, reveals.61
The poetry is so similar to the prose in its understanding of the theol-

ogy elsewhere and in its language that it seems unlikely that this one
difference is due to a change in understanding which occurred in Hilduin’s
thinking between writing the prose and poetry, though it is possible. As
noted, the poetry is far longer than the prose concerning the letters to
Sosipater and Dorotheus, and while this may be stylistic, it could indi-
cate that Hilduin had found time after writing the prose life to turn back
to Pseudo-Dionysius’s work.
Théry was correct if not complete in his assessment that much of
Hilduin’s use of Pseudo-Dionysius’s works were for a biographical pur-
pose. Hilduin seeks to emphasise the saint’s apostolicity and his wisdom
in his textual selections. This aggrandising of his subject is typical of the
hagiographer, of course, as he seeks to strengthen his abbey by strength-
ening its patron saint. Particular to Hilduin, however, is his need to give
Louis the Pious and his son Charles a strong new patron saint as Louis
attempts to regain his power, and his need to fully establish Denis of
Paris’s Areopagitic identification.
Thus, in the first section of the PBS Hilduin manages to circumvent
papal authority over the emperor of the Franks by emphasising their
60
PBS Poetry, Book I:151.
61
‘Preterit haud illud quod qui super omnia Iesus
Est hominis factus substantis more creati
Materia carnis humane iure creatus
Qualiter ostendit pariens precelsa virago.’ (PBS Poetry, Book I: 140–143)

R&T 13,3-4_F2_219-246 11/8/06 6:48 PM Page 245
patron saint’s apostolic and noble characteristics which are linked to

Athens and Paris with little need for Rome. The abbey of Saint-Denis,
after all, possessed the symbols of Saint Peter’s authority, given to it in
754 by the pope. Instead of enforcing the present Pope Gregory’s power,
therefore, Pope Clement’s ancient sending of Denis to Paris fortified the
Franks’ primacy and independence as it could be pointed out that past
popes gave Denis his mission though not his position, a position granted
by Christ himself and finalised by Paul.
In addition to this, Hilduin reemphasises that Denis of Paris is the
same man as Dionysius of Acts and the theologian Dionysius. Though
he was not the first to make this connection, he is the one whose work
solidified it for generations to come. Both of these biographical uses of
the Pseudo-Dionysian works, therefore, serve to strengthen Louis’ posi-
tion and that of the abbey of Saint-Denis. Related to these political
motives is Hilduin’s theme of forgiveness which stands out in his inter-
pretation of the Pseudo-Dionysian works.
Hilduin’s biographical and political intent behind the extensive use of
Pseudo-Dionysian works within the vita having been established, one must
also note that this was not his sole purpose for their inclusion. While,
indeed, it is clear that he is not an expert in negative theology, the abbot
did grasp some of the major points in the theology and was able to point
out its central tenets to his readers, even when he could not elucidate it
fully. Pseudo-Dionysius’s discussion of perception and darkness as well as
his understanding of sanctification, seem to have been understood and
incorporated into Hilduin’s whole work on the vita, not merely in his
translation of the books.
Department of Religious Studies Marianne M. Delaporte

Notre Dame de Namur University
1500 Ralston Ave.
Belmont, CA 94002
United States of America
E-mail: mdelaporte@ndnu.edu
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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(814–98): The Rise of a Royal Patron-Saint.’ Ph.D. diss., University of Oxford,
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de Andia, Ysabel, ed. Denys L’Aréopagite et sa Postérité en Orient et en Occident, Actes
du Colloque International. Paris, 21–24 September 1994. Paris: Institut d’Etudes
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Duncan, Sandra. ‘Signa de Caelo in the Lives of St. Cuthbert: the Impact of Biblical
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Heffernan, Thomas J. Sacred Biography: Saints and Their Biographers in the Middle Ages.
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———. ‘The Reception of the Writings of Denis the Pseudo-Areopagite into
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R&T 13,3-4_colophon 11/6/06 11:03 AM Page i

Theology and Society

Reﬁguring Graeco-Roman Antiquity

Volume 13⁄3-4 (2006)

ISSN 1023–0807 (paper version)

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RELIGION & THEOLOGY

Policy Subscriptions Africa

Executive Editor Subscription orders, payments, claims and customer service

Book Reviews Editor Back volumes

Notes for Contributors Printed in the Netherlands (on acid-free paper).

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HE DARKENS ME WITH BRIGHTNESS:

1. Introduction: The Scope of the Vita

Historians of theology have long ignored hagiography as a site for con-

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden Religion & Theology 13/3-4 (2006)

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220 Marianne M. Delaporte

also quite innovative to put so much emphasis on a saint’s theology within

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The Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius 221

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222 Marianne M. Delaporte

a better appreciation of Hilduin’s theological understanding of hagiogra-

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The Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius 223

2. Pseudo-Dionysius’s Arrival in the West

The works of Pseudo-Dionysius were known in the West by the end of

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224 Marianne M. Delaporte

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The Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius 225

3. Theosophus to Dionysius: Identity and Naming

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226 Marianne M. Delaporte

appear until chapter ﬁve of the vita. By beginning with a discussion of

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The Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius 227

which it is contained does. It is its place within the homily, therefore,

so that his [Paul’s] teaching could be examined there by Theosophus

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228 Marianne M. Delaporte

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The Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius 229

4. A River of Mystical Eloquence: The Pseudo-Dionysian Works

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230 Marianne M. Delaporte

Following this statement, Hilduin reiterates the arguments which he made

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The Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius 231

Within the theological works (as opposed to the Pseudo-Dionysian let-

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232 Marianne M. Delaporte

There is no mention of this letter in Greek or Latin sources of any

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The Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius 233

In summary, much of Hilduin’s original text in the chapters concerning

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234 Marianne M. Delaporte

6. Forgiveness: ‘We do not Torment the Blind, We Lead Them

The Areopagitic identiﬁcation is clearly important as a propaganda tool

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The Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius 235