Il convertito che opera conversioni: san Dionigi nel «Dionysius» di Rosvita di Gandersheim

Abstract

In her seventh hagiographical poem, «Dionysius» (or «Passio sancti Dionysii egregii martyris»), Hrotsvit of Gandersheim (935-973) elaborates in 266 rhymed hexameters a story already told in the «Vita sancti Dionysii» of Hilduinus, abbot of Saint-Denis, composed about 835 by order of the emperor Louis the Pious, to whom he is devoted. Hrotsvit, in this work, presents the figure of Dionysius as a convert by the apostle Paulus, who consecrates his new Christian life to the conversion of the Pagans, until his martyrdom (which is under the topic of “cephalologie”, a recurring theme in classical and medieval lore). The poem has a big interest, both historical and literary. The paper presents and analyzes Hrotsvit’s «Dionysius» in his literary, historical, hagiographical, religious components and particularly insists on the themes of “conversion”, “evangelization” and “martyrdom”.