Genevieve

Saint Genevieve (French: Sainte Geneviève; Latin: Sancta Genovefa, Genoveva; from Germanic keno "kin" and wefa "wife") (Nanterre, c. 419/422 AD – Paris 502/512 AD), is the patron saint of Paris in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Her feast day is kept on January the 3rd.

She was born in Nanterre and moved to Paris after encountering Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes and dedicated herself to a Christian life.^[1] In 451 she led a "prayer marathon"^[2] that was said to have saved Paris by diverting Attila's Huns away from the city. When Childeric I besieged the city in 464 and conquered it, she acted as an intermediary between the city and its conqueror, collecting food and convincing Childeric to release his prisoners.^[1]

Her following and her status as patron saint of Paris were promoted by Clotilde, who may have commissioned the writing of her vita. This was most likely written in Tours, where Clotilde retired after her husband's death, as evidenced also by the importance of Martin of Tours as a saintly model.^[1]

Life

Though there is a vita that purports to be written by a contemporary, Genevieve's history cannot be separated from her hagiography. She was described as a peasant girl born in Nanterre to a Frankish father and a Gallo-Roman mother. On his way to Britain, Germanus of Auxerre stopped at Nanterre, and Genevieve confided to him that she wanted to live only for God. He encouraged her and at the age of fifteen, Genevieve became a nun. On the deaths of her parents, she went to live with her godmother Lutetia in Paris ("Lutetia" was the former name of the city of Paris, so this has symbolic weight.) There the young woman became admired for her piety and devotion to works of charity, which included corporal austerities, and a vegetarian diet which allowed her to have supper but twice per week. "These mortifications she continued for over thirty years, till her ecclesiastical superiors thought it their duty to make her diminish her austerities."^[3] She encountered opposition and criticism for her activities, both before and after she was again visited by Germanus.

Geneviève had frequent visions of heavenly saints and angels. She reported her visions and prophecies, until her enemies conspired to drown her in a lake of fire. Through the intervention of Germanus, their animosity was finally overcome. The Bishop of Paris appointed her to look after the welfare of the virgins dedicated to God, and by her instruction and example she led them to a high degree of sanctity.^[3]

Shortly before the attack of the Huns under Attila in 451 on Paris, Genevieve and Germanus' archdeacon, persuaded the panic-stricken people of Paris not to leave their homes and to pray. It is claimed that the intercession of Genevieve's prayers caused Attila's army to go to Orléans instead.^[4] During Childeric's siege and blockade of Paris in 464, Geneviève passed through the siege lines in a boat to Troyes, bringing grain to the city. She also pleaded to Childeric for the welfare of prisoners-of-war, and met with a favorable response. Through her influence, Childeric and Clovis displayed unwonted clemency towards the citizens.^[3]

Death and burial

Front of the Church of the former Abbey of Ste. Genevieve-(which she was said to have inspired)

Clovis I founded an abbey where Genevieve might minister, and where she herself was later buried.^[5] Under the care of the Benedictines, who established a monastery there, the church witnessed numerous miracles wrought at her tomb. Genevieve was canonised and the church was rededicated in her name; people eventually enriched the church with their gifts. it was plundered by the Vikings in 847 and was partially rebuilt, but was completed only in 1177.

In 1129, when the city was suffering from an epidemic of ergot poisoning, this "burning sickness" was stayed after Saint Genevieve's relics were carried in a public procession. This was repeated annually with the relics being brought to the cathedral; Mme de Sévigné gave a description of the pageant in one of her letters. The relief from the epidemic is still commemorated in the churches of Paris.^[6]

Tomb of Saint Genevieve in the church of Saint Etienne du Mont

After the old church fell into decay, Louis XV ordered a new church worthy of the patron saint of Paris; he entrusted the Marquis of Marigny with the construction. The marquis gave the commission to his protégé Jacques-Germain Soufflot, who planned a neo-classical design. After Soufflot's death, the church was completed by his pupil, Jean-Baptiste Rondelet.

The Revolution broke out before the new church was dedicated. It was taken over in 1791 by the National Constituent Assembly and renamed the Panthéon, to be a burial place for distinguished Frenchmen. It became an important monument in Paris.

Though Saint Genevieve's relics had been publicly burnt at the Place de Grève in 1793 during the French Revolution, the Panthéon was restored to Catholic purposes in 1821. In 1831 it was secularized again as a national mausoleum, but restored to the Catholic Church in 1852. Though the Communards had dispersed the relics, in 1885 the Catholic Church reconsecrated the structure to St Geneviève. Today, the Panthéon serves both religious and secular functions.

Canons of Saint Genevieve

The Panthéon, Paris

About 1619 Louis XIII named Cardinal François de La Rochefoucauld abbot of Saint Genevieve's. The canons had been lax and the cardinal selected Charles Faure to reform them. This holy man was born in 1594, and entered the canons regular at Senlis. He was remarkable for his piety, and, when ordained, succeeded after a hard struggle in reforming the abbey. Many of the houses of the canons regular adopted his reform. In 1634, he and a dozen companions took charge of Saint-Geneviève-du-Mont of Paris. This became the mother-house of a new congregation, the Canons Regular of Ste. Genevieve, which spread widely over France.

The institute named after the saint was the Daughters of Ste. Geneviève, founded at Paris in 1636, by Francesca de Blosset, with the object of nursing the sick and teaching young girls. A somewhat similar institute, popularly known as the Miramiones, had been founded under the invocation of the Holy Trinity in 1611 by Marie Bonneau de Rubella Beauharnais de Miramion. These two institutes were united in 1665, and the associates called the Canonesses of Ste. Geneviève. The members took no vows, but merely promised obedience to the rules as long as they remained in the institute. Suppressed during the Revolution, the institute was revived in 1806 by Jeanne-Claude Jacoulet under the name of the Sisters of the Holy Family.

See also

• Argol Parish close
• Culture of France
• History of France
• Religion in France
• Roman Catholicism in France

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Attwater, Donald; John, Catherine Rachel (1993). The Penguin Dictionary of Saints (3 ed.). New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-051312-4. 
• McNamara, Jo Ann; Halberg, John E.; Whatley, E. Gordon (1992). Sainted Women of the Dark Ages. Durham: Duke UP. ISBN 978-0-8223-1216-1. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sainte Geneviève.

• Saint of the Day, January 3: Geneviève of Paris at SaintPatrickDC.org
• "St.Genevieve, Chief Patroness of the City of Paris", Butler, Alban. "The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints, Vol.I

Catholic saints Virgin Mary Mother of God (Theotokos) Immaculate Conception Perpetual virginity Assumption Marian apparition Guadalupe Laus Miraculous Medal Lourdes Fatima Archangels Gabriel Michael Raphael Patriarchs Adam Abel Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph Matriarchs David Noah Solomon Joseph (father of Jesus) Prophets Agabus Amos Anna Baruch ben Neriah David Elijah Ezekiel Habakkuk Haggai Hosea Isaiah Jeremiah Job Joel John the Baptist Jonah Judas Barsabbas Malachi Melchizedek Micah Moses Nahum Obadiah Samuel Seven Maccabees and their mother Simeon Zechariah (prophet) Zechariah (NT) Zephaniah Apostles Andrew Barnabas Bartholomew James of Alphaeus James the Greater John Jude Matthew Matthias Paul Peter Philip Simon Thomas Evangelists Matthew Mark Luke John Disciples Apollos Mary Magdalene Priscilla and Aquila Silvanus Stephen Timothy Titus Seventy disciples Martyrs Canadian Martyrs Carthusian Martyrs Drina Martyrs Forty Martyrs of England and Wales Four Crowned Martyrs Great Martyr The Holy Innocents Irish Martyrs Joan of Arc Lübeck martyrs Korean Martyrs Martyrology Martyrs of China Martyrs of Japan Martyrs of Otranto Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War Perpetua and Felicity Saints of the Cristero War Stephen Three Martyrs of Chimbote Uganda Martyrs Vietnamese Martyrs Popes Adeodatus I Adeodatus II Adrian III Agapetus I Agatho Alexander I Anacletus Anastasius I Anicetus Anterus Benedict II Boniface I Boniface IV Caius Callixtus I Celestine I Celestine V Clement I Cornelius Damasus I Dionysius Eleuterus Eugene I Eusebius Eutychian Evaristus Fabian Felix I Felix III Felix IV Gelasius I Gregory I Gregory II Gregory III Gregory VII Hilarius Hormisdas Hyginus Innocent I John I John XXIII John Paul II Julius I Leo I Leo II Leo III Leo IV Leo IX Linus Lucius I Marcellinus Marcellus I Mark Martin I Miltiades Nicholas I Paschal I Paul I Peter Pius I Pius V Pius X Pontian Sergius I Silverius Simplicius Siricius Sixtus I Sixtus II Sixtus III Soter Stephen I Stephen IV Sylvester I Symmachus Telesphorus Urban I Victor I Vitalian Zachary Zephyrinus Zosimus Fathers Alexander of Alexandria Alexander of Jerusalem Ambrose of Milan Anatolius Athanasius of Alexandria Augustine of Hippo Caesarius of Arles Caius Cappadocian Fathers Clement of Alexandria Clement of Rome Cyprian of Carthage Cyril of Alexandria Cyril of Jerusalem Damasus I Desert Fathers Desert Mothers Dionysius of Alexandria Dionysius of Corinth Dionysius Ephrem the Syrian Epiphanius of Salamis Fulgentius of Ruspe Gregory the Great Gregory of Nazianzus Gregory of Nyssa Hilary of Poitiers Hippolytus of Rome Ignatius of Antioch Irenaeus of Lyons Isidore of Seville Jerome of Stridonium John Chrysostom John of Damascus Maximus the Confessor Melito of Sardis Quadratus of Athens Papias of Hierapolis Peter Chrysologus Polycarp of Smyrna Theophilus of Antioch Victorinus of Pettau Vincent of Lerins Zephyrinus Confessors Anatolius Chariton the Confessor Edward the Confessor Maximus the Confessor Michael of Synnada Paphnutius the Confessor Paul I of Constantinople Salonius Theophanes the Confessor Doctors Gregory the Great Ambrose Augustine of Hippo Jerome John Chrysostom Basil of Caesarea Gregory of Nazianzus Athanasius of Alexandria Cyril of Alexandria Cyril of Jerusalem John of Damascus Bede the Venerable Ephrem the Syrian Thomas Aquinas Bonaventure Anselm of Canterbury Isidore of Seville Peter Chrysologus Leo the Great Peter Damian Bernard of Clairvaux Hilary of Poitiers Alphonsus Liguori Francis de Sales Peter Canisius John of the Cross Robert Bellarmine Albertus Magnus Anthony of Padua Lawrence of Brindisi Teresa of Ávila Catherine of Siena Thérèse of Lisieux John of Ávila Hildegard of Bingen Gregory of Narek Virgins Agatha of Sicily Agnes of Rome Cecilia Clare of Assisi Eulalia of Mérida Euphemia Genevieve Kateri Tekakwitha Lucy of Syracuse Maria Goretti Narcisa de Jesús Rose of Lima Apologetics Anselm of Canterbury Aristides of Athens Augustine of Hippo Clement of Alexandria Epistle to Diognetus John Henry Newman Justin Martyr Quadratus of Athens Theophilus of Antioch Thomas Aquinas Saints portal Catholicism portal