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Genevieve
Genevieve
Life
Death and burial
Canons of Saint Genevieve
See also
References
External links
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 Severus (a
Gallo-Roman) and Geroncia (Greek origins). 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, and
practiced corporal austerities which included abstaining from meat and breaking her fast only twice in the
week. "These mortifications she continued for over thirty years, till her ecclesiastical superiors thought it
their duty to make her diminish her austerities."[4] She encountered opposition and criticism for her
activities, both before and after she was again visited by Germanus from those who were jealous or
considered her an impostor or hypocrite.
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. 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.[4]
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 flee but to pray. It is claimed that the intercession of
Genevieve's prayers caused Attila's army to go to Orléans instead.[5] 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.[4]
Genevieve cherished a particular devotion to Saint Denis, and wished to erect a chapel in his honor to
house his relics. Around 475 Genevieve purchased some land at the site of the his burial and exhorted the
neighboring priests to use their utmost endeavors. When they replied that they had no lime, she sent them
to the bridge of Paris, where they learned the whereabouts of large quantities of this material from the
conversation of two swineherds. After this the building proceeded successfully.[6] The small chapel
became a famous place of pilgrimage during the fifth and sixth centuries.[7]
Her attribute is a candle, and she is sometimes also depicted with the devil, who is said to have blown it
out when she went to pray in church at night.[8]
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.[10]
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.
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, popular buriel 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
History of France
Religion in France
Roman Catholicism in France
Saint Genevieve, patron saint archive
References
Notes
1. Evans, D. Ellis (1967). Gaulish personal names: a study of some Continental Celtic
formations (https://books.google.fr/books?id=qGBmAAAAMAAJ&q=Gaulish+personal+nam
es&dq=Gaulish+personal+names&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQmeCA2dLWAhWLJ8AKHS
h8Ac0Q6AEIKTAA). Clarendon P.
2. McNamara, Halborg, and Whatley 18.
3. McNamara, Halborg, and Whatley 4.
4. MacErlean, Andrew. "St. Genevieve." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1909. 19 Jul. 2014 (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06413f.htm)
5. Bentley, James (1993). A calendar of saints: the lives of the principal saints of the Christian
Year. London: Little, Brown. p. 9. ISBN 9780316908139.
6. Hinds, Allen Banks. Hinds, “Saint Genevieve”. A Garner of Saints, 1900.
CatholicSaints.Info. 19 April 2017 (https://catholicsaints.info/a-garner-of-saints-saint-genevi
eve/)
7. Alston, George Cyprian. "Abbey of Saint-Denis." The Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.ne
wadvent.org/cathen/13343b.htm) Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 2
December 2017
8. Saint Geneviève (https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/saints/saint
-genevieve) in Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
9. Farmer, David Hugh (1997). The Oxford dictionary of saints (4. ed.). Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford
Univ. Press. pp. 200–201. ISBN 9780192800589.
10. Attwater.
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 (https://books.google.com/books?id=a6acuOZt5bkC). Durham: Duke UP.
ISBN 978-0-8223-1216-1.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed.
(1913). "St. Genevieve". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.
External links
Saint of the Day, January 3: Geneviève of Paris (http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0103.shtm
l#gene) 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 (http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/GEN
EVIEV.htm)
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