St Genevieve

Genevieve (; ; also called ''Genovefa'' and ''Genofeva''; 419/422 AD – 502/512 AD) was a consecrated virgin, and is one of the two patron saints of Paris in the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. Her feast day is on 3 January.

Recognized for her religious devotion at a young age, she met Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes when she was a child and dedicated herself to a virginal life. Miracles and healings began to happen around her early on and she became known for changing the weather. She moved from Nanterre, her hometown, to Paris, after her parents died and became known for her piety, healings, and miracles, although the residents of Paris resented her and would have killed her if not for Germanus' interventions. Her prayers saved Paris from being destroyed by the Huns under Attila in 451 and other wars; her organisation of the city's women was called a "prayer marathon" and Genevieve's "most famous feat". She was involved in two major construction projects in Paris, a basilica in the honour of Saint Denis of Paris in 475 and the Basilica of the Holy Apostles, dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul .

Genevieve performed miracles both before and after her death. She was recognized as the patron saint of Paris in the 14th century. She was "a favorite of both the humblest residents and of the Bourbon family, and was equally venerated by Erasmus and revolutionary fishwives" and was considered "a cultural symbol which Parisians shared, appropriated, negotiated, and used according to specific communal assumptions and traditions".

Genevieve was publicly invoked during emergencies related to the needs and expectations of the residents of Paris 153 times between 885 and October 1791, ranging from spontaneous and less-ritualized invocations and processions with her reliquary during the Middle Ages to highly ritualized ones said before her unveiled reliquary in the years leading up to the French Revolution. As times and conditions changed in Paris, so did the ways in which Genevieve was invoked and processed. As new calamities threatened the city and new intercessions to her were needed, new associations, images, and metaphors were required. Devotion to her remained popular throughout the history of Paris, although devotion to her has never returned to its pre-Revolutionary popularity and unifying status.

Life

Early life

Genevieve was born in Nanterre, France, a small village almost west of Paris, to Severus and Gerontia, who were of German or possibly Frankish origins. A candle is one of her most common attributes; she is sometimes depicted with the devil, who is said to have blown out her candle when she prayed at night.

Genevieve appears in the ''Martyrology of Jerome''; her ''vita'' appeared many centuries after her death, although hagiographer Donald Attwater states that her ''vita'' claims to be written by a contemporary of Genevieve and "Its authenticity and value are the subject of much discussion". According to historian Moshe Sluhovsky, the ''Vita of Sainte Geneviève'' was written shortly after her death, in the late 500s and was based upon the ''vita'' of Martin of Tours. In 1310, the first French edition of her ''vita'' was published; in 1367, the first French translation was published. As David Farmer states, "little can be known about her with certainty, but her cult has flourished on civil and national pride".

Even though popular tradition represents Genevieve's parents as poor peasants, their names, which were common amongst the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, are considered evidence that she was born into the Gallic upper class. She was recognised for her religious devotion from an early age."Genovefa (423-502)", p. 19. When Genevieve was seven years old (), Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes stopped at Nanterre on their way to Britain from Gaul to put an end to the Pelagian heresy."Genovefa (423-502)", p. 17 Germanus saw Genevieve in a crowd of villagers who gathered to meet and obtain Germanus' and Lupus' blessing and observed her thoughtfulness and piety. After speaking to her and encouraging her "to persevere in the path of virtue", Germanus interviewed her parents and told them that she would "be great before the face of the Lord""Genovefa (423-502)", p. 20. and that by her example, lead and teach many consecrated virgins. As Sluhovsky states, "Miracles marking the young girl as a bride of Christ followed". Genevieve told Germanus that she wanted to follow God; according to her ''vita'', Germanus confirmed her desire to become a consecrated virgin, plucked a coin from the ground, and instructed her to have a necklace made from it to remind her about their meeting.

According to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'', Germanus gave Genevieve a medal engraved with a cross and instructed her to wear it instead of pearls and gold jewelry to help her to remember her commitment to Christ. The ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' also states that since there were no convents near Nanterre, she "remained at home, leading an innocent, prayerful life"; according to historian Jo Ann McNamara, Germanus inspired Genevieve to dedicate her life and virginity to God's service, which was not limited to an established rule or a monastic lifestyle."Genovefa (423-502)", p. 18. It is unknown when Genevieve received the consecration of virgins; some sources state that she received her veil from Pope Gregory I, while others state that she, along with two companions, received them from the Bishop of Paris when she was 15 years old. Sluhovsky states that Genevieve was consecrated .

Genevieve's ''vita'' relates a story about her mother being struck blind after violently preventing Genevieve from attending church on a feast day. After almost two years, Genevieve realised that she was the reason for her mother's blindness; after her mother asked her to retrieve water for her from a nearby well, she restored her mother's sight with it. According to Sluhovsky, the miracle confirmed Genevieve's sanctity and her family later allowed her to be brought with two girls before a bishop to be consecrated as virgins. The bishop blessed her before the other girls even though she was the youngest. Sluhovsky calls her mother's healing the first water-related miracle associated with Genevieve, who was invoked to protect Paris from floods centuries after her death. The Nanterre well was a popular site of veneration well into the 15th century. By the 16th century, many miracles occurred at the site and it was one of the major pilgrimage sites in the Ile-de-France.

In the 1700s, an annual pilgrimage to Nanterre was celebrated the first Sunday after Easter and many of the well's visitors were members of the French royal family. For example, Anne of Austria had a "special devotion" to Genevieve and would make yearly pilgrimages on January 3, Genevieve's feast day, to the well in Nanterre and to pray for the birth of a male heir. After Anne's son was born, she visited Nanterre to thank Genevieve and in 1642, donated the cornerstone for a new seminary there. According to Sluhovsky, other fountains and springs were associated with Genevieve and were attributed with healing powers, including against high fevers, into the early modern period. In 1599, the Swiss physician and writer Thomas Platter recorded a possibly earlier water miracle: when Genevieve was still in school, a bridge appeared over a ditch filled with water, and then disappeared after she crossed it. Platter argued that this miracle was the reason the residents of Paris ascribed Genevieve with the power to change the weather.

Later life and death

After her parents' deaths, Genevieve went to live with her godmother in Paris, devoting herself to prayer and charitable works. She became severely paralysed and almost died; after she recovered, she reported that she had seen visions of heaven. In Paris, she became admired for her piety and devotion to works of charity, and practiced fasting, "severe corporal austerities", and the mortification of the flesh, which included abstaining from meat and breaking her fast only twice a week. She fasted, between the ages of 15 and 50, from Sunday to Thursday and from Thursday to Sunday; her diet consisted of beans and barley bread, and she never drank alcohol. After she turned 50 and by order of her bishops, she added fish and milk to her diet."Genovefa (423-502)", p. 24. She devoutly kept vigil each Saturday night, "following the teaching of the Lord concerning the servant who awaited the master's return from a wedding"."Genovefa (423-502)", pp. 24—25.

Genevieve's neighbours, "filled with jealousy and envy", accused her in 445 or 446 of being a hypocrite and imposter, and that her visions and prophecies were frauds. Sluhovsky states that Genevieve "received the divine gift of reading people's thoughts", which displeased many residents of Paris. Sluhovsky also states that opposition to her occurred because she threatened the male hierarchy in Paris, so she needed patronage and recognition from established male authorities, which she received from Germanus, Simeon Stylites, and Clovis I. Her enemies plotted to drown her, but Germanus visited Paris again and defended her, although the attacks continued. The bishop of Paris appointed her to care for other consecrated virgins; "by her instruction and example she led them to a high degree of sanctity".

Shortly before the Huns' 451 attack of Paris, Genevieve prophesied that the city would be spared, but that those who fled Paris would be killed. Genevieve and Germanus' archdeacon persuaded the people of Paris that she "was not a prophetess of doom" and convinced the women that instead of joining their husbands and abandoning their homes, to pray and do acts of penance to spare the city. It is claimed that the intercession of Genevieve's prayers caused Attila's army to go to Orléans