SAINT DENIS: The Headless Saint Who Still Haunts the Streets of Paris - Softcover

EVERLY, REV. JOSEPH

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798161810552

Publisher: Independently published, 2026

Synopsis

He was beheaded on a hill above Paris. Then he stood up, picked up his own head, and walked six miles.

For more than seventeen centuries, the most rational city on earth has refused to forget him.

In the year 250, a quiet philosopher from Athens was sent to a muddy Roman outpost on the Seine, a city of smoke, stone, and old gods that did not want him. He mended ropes for fishermen. He celebrated Mass in cold, hidden quarries. He fed the hungry and healed the broken until the pagan priests could ignore him no longer.

Then came the knock at midnight. The trial. The long climb up Montmartre, the Mount of Martyrs. The sword.

And then the impossible walk that gave France its patron, its kings their resting place, and the world its first Gothic church.

SAINT DENIS: The Headless Saint Who Still Haunts the Streets of Paris is not a dry history. It reads like a novel and prays like a retreat. Every chapter draws you deeper into the life, death, and astonishing legacy of the first bishop of Paris.

Inside this book, you will:

Walk the streets of Roman Paris, from the smell of the Seine to the chants of the old temple, as Denis brings the faith to a city that wanted him dead.

Meet the hidden disciples who risked everything, including a grieving matron, a weary fisherman, a skeptical soldier, and the pagan widow who dared to give a martyr a grave.

Stand on Montmartre for the arrest, the trial, and the climb, where Denis spoke the words that cost him his head: “I cannot deny Christ.”

Enter the Basilica of Saint-Denis, where kings and queens of France sleep around their patron, and discover how revolutionaries tried to “behead” him a second time in 1793, and failed.

Follow a step-by-step walking pilgrimage from Montmartre to Saint-Denis, with prayers for every station, whether you go in person or in spirit.

Pray a nine-day Novena to Saint Denis for courage in persecution, anxiety, and seasons when you feel purposeless.

Reflect and grow with discussion questions, meditations, and journaling prompts at the end of every chapter. They are ideal for personal devotion, book clubs, and parish groups.

This is a book for anyone who has ever felt “beheaded” by life: by loss, failure, illness, or a world that mocks their faith. Denis shows you how to stand up, carry your brokenness like a lamp, and keep walking.

Perfect for lovers of Catholic saints and early Christian martyrs, devotees of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, pilgrims to Paris, and anyone searching for courage that does not quit. It also makes a meaningful gift for Confirmation, RCIA, feast days (October 9), and Catholic friends and family.

His last sermon was preached without a mouth. Are you ready to listen?

Scroll up and click “Buy Now” to begin your walk with the Headless Saint of Paris today.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798161810552
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144