Early life

Genevieve was born s. 419 or 422 in Nanterre, France, a small village almost tujuh kilometer (4.3 bt) west of Paris, to Severus and Gerontia, who were of German or possibly Frankish origins.[1][7] A candle is one of her most common attributes. Sometimes she is depicted with the devil, who is said to have blown out her candle when she prayed at night.[3]

Genevieve appears in the Martyrology of Jerome; her vita appeared many centuries after her death,[3] 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".[8] 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.[1][9] In 1310, the first French edition of her vita was published; in 1367, the first French translation was published.[10] As David Farmer states, "little can be known about her with certainty, but her cult has flourished on civil and national pride".[3]

Even though popular tradition represents Genevieve's parents as poor peasants,[7] 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.[11][8] When Genevieve was seven years old (sekitar 429), 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.[2][1] 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",[7] Germanus interviewed her parents and told them that she would "be great before the face of the Lord"[12] and that by her example, lead and teach many consecrated virgins.[7][12] As Sluhovsky states, "Miracles marking the young girl as a bride of Christ followed".[1] 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.[13][14]

The Consecration of Ste. Genevieve; painting by M. Basterot in the Church of Ste. Geneviève, MissouriGenevieve, with Germanus of Auxerre, created by sculptor Henri Chapu (c. 1875)

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.[7] The Catholic Encyclopedia also states that since there were no convents near Navarre, she "remained at home, leading an innocent, prayerful life";[7] 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.[15] 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.[3][7][14] Sluhovsky states that Genevieve was consecrated sekitar 437.[1]

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.[16] 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,[17] who was invoked to protect Paris from floods centuries after her death.[18] The Navarre 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 Navarre was celebrated the first Sunday after Easter and many of the well's visitors were members of the French royal family.[19] For example, Anne of Austria had a "special devotion"[20] to Genevieve and would make yearly pilgrimages on January 3, Genevieve's feast day, to the well in Navarre and to pray for the birth of a male heir. After Anne's son was born, she visited Navarre to thank Genevieve and in 1642, donated the cornerstone for a new seminary there.[20] According to Sluhovsky, other fountains and springs were associated with Genevieve and were attributed with healing powers, including for high fevers, into the early modern period.[20] 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.[21]

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.[3][22][14] In Paris, she became admired for her piety and devotion to works of charity, and practiced fasting, "severe corporal austerities",[7] 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 to 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.[7][23] 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".[24]

Genevieve's neighbours, "filled with jealousy and envy",[7] accused her in 445 or 446 of being a hypocrite and imposter, and that her visions and prophecies were frauds.[1][7] Sluhovsky states that Genevieve "received the divine gift of reading people's thoughts", which displeased many residents of Paris.[1] 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 Germanius, Simeon Stylites, and Clovis I.[9] Her enemies plotted to drown her, but Germanus visited Paris again and defended her, although the attacks continued.[25][14] 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".[7]

Section of "Sainte Geneviève Watching over Paris, by muralist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (date unknown)

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.[26] Genevieve and Germanus' archdeacon persuaded the people of Paris that she "was not a prophetess of doom"[14] 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 instead.[7][27][28][29] According to her vita, Genevieve persuaded the women of Paris to undertake a series of fasts, prayers, and vigils "in order to ward off the threatening disaster, as Esther and Judith had done in the past".[30] McNamara, who translated Genevieve's vita, calls it a "prayer marathon" and Genevieve's "most famous feat".[4] Genevieve also persuaded the men to not remove their goods from Paris.[30] The city's residents were again angered by her prophesies, and as Sluhovsky put it, "possibly by her disruption of gender hierarchies";[29] they again plotted to kill her, but she was saved by Germanus' intervention; a messenger was sent to bring her eucharistic loaves shortly after his death, which prevented the residents from carrying out their plan against Genevieve.[29]

Section of "Saint Geneviève Resupplying Besieged Paris," by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (c. 1890)

Years later, Genevieve "distinguished herself by her charity and self-sacrifice"[7] during the defeat of Paris by Merowig in 480 and was able to influence him and his successors, Childeric and Clovis I, to be lenient towards the city's residents.[7][29] According to Farmer, Genevieve made an agreement with soldiers during the siege of Paris to obtain provisions, which were transported by river from Arcis and Troyes.[3] Her vita reports that Clovis, who venerated her,[3] often pardoned criminals he had put in prison at Genevieve's request, even if they were guilty;[31] Attawater states that Genevieve asked Clovis to free prisoners and be lenient to lawbreakers.[8] According to Farmer, she "won Childeric's respect".[3] He ordered the Paris gates closed so that Genevieve could not rescue prisoners he wanted to execute, but after Genevieve was informed of his plans, she opened the gates by touching them, without a key; she then met with Childeric and persuaded him not to execute the prisoners. She led a convoy, and "proved herself capable of leading a paramilitary operation which necessitated crossing enemy lines",[29] through the blockade of Paris up the Seine from Troyes to bring food to the starving citizens. On her return home, Genevieve's prayers saved the eleven ships that carried her, her companions, and the grain for the residents of Paris.[8][32] Back in Paris, she gave food to the poor first.[33]

Genevieve was also involved in two major construction projects in Paris.[29] She had a strong devotion to Saint Denis of Paris, the city's first bishop, and wanted to build a basilica in his honour in 475,[29] even though the local priests had few resources. She told them to go to the bridge of Paris, where they found an abandoned lime kiln, which provided the building materials for the basilica. After praying all night, one of the priests promised to raise the funds needed to hire workers, and carpenters donated their time to gather wood and other resources. When the workers ran out of water to drink, Genevieve prayed and made the sign of the cross over a vessel, and water was miraculously provided. The basilica was later called the Priory of Saint Denis de Strata.[3][24] Genevieve collaborated with Clothilde, the wife of Clovis I, to bring about his conversion to Christianity; shortly before her death, Genevieve convinced him to build the Basilica of the Holy Apostles, dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which was completed after the year 500.[29]

Genevieve's vita states that "she passed over in ripe old age, full of virtue";[31] she died at the age of 82.[29] After her death, she was enshrined in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles, which she helped build.[3] She was buried next to members of Clovis' family and she was considered a protector of the royal family. Miracles started occurring at the basilica immediately following her internment there; her vita records the earliest ones. Her entombment at the basilica helped Genevieve gained prestige; soon after her death, her tomb became a pilgrimage site.[9] Genevieve's vita states, about the basilica, "A triple portico adjoins the church, with pictures of Patriarchs and Prophets, Martyrs and Confessors to the faith in ancient times from pages of history books".[34] Healings took place at her shrine after Genevieve's death; oil that was kept in the Abbey of Saint Genevieve, which was built early in the 6th century, was reported to heal blindness as late as the 9th century. Additional miracles experienced by pilgrims to her shrine were recorded into the 14th century. Similar to the miracles that occurred during Genevieve's lifetime, there were reports of miracles such as the healing of eye disease, paralysis, the plague, and high fever.[35]

Miracles

According to McNamara, during the Franks' many sieges of Paris, Genevieve had to convince them "that she and her God were allies worth having".[4] McNamara also states that Genevieve "aligned with the poor and the conquered against unharnessed secular power".[4] McNamara believes, however, that her status as a woman with no official status or political power "rendered her innocuous in the context of secular power"[4] and reports that Genevieve inspired the Franks to respect the Gallic saints and provided evidence to the rulers on both sides that God responded to her prayers. McNamara goes on to state, "Power, as expressed through miracles, protected Childeric and his successors from the possibility that whatever mercy and indulgence they showed towards the saints and to the poor they championed might be construed as a sign of weakness unbecoming a warrior".[4] Sluhovsky states that miraculous healings, which included restoring sight to the blind, healing women of paralysis, and expelling demons from the possessed, occurred both during Genevieve's lifetime and after her death, .[36]

Miniature of Saint Genevieve (at St. Genoveva Church in the Netherlands), with an angel on her right and a demon on her left.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Genevieve had frequent visions of heavenly saints and angels.[7] She also performed miracles in Paris and throughout the Ile-de-France, which included exorcising demons, healing the blind, resurrecting the dead, rescuing prisoners, and helping a consecrated virgin escape her fiancé.[29] Genevieve's vita reports that she rekindled a candle after it went out on the way from her cell to the Basilica of Saint-Denis; the virgins with her were frightened, so she asked to hold the candle and it immediately lit up again. When she arrived at the basilica, the candle was consumed by its own fire and after completing her prayers, another candle was lit when she touched it and people were healed when they procured fragments of her candle.[37] Later stories about this event report that a demon was trying to extinguish the candle and that an angel protected her. According to Sluhovsky, the residents of Paris were familiar with this story because an angel, looking over her right shoulder, and a demon, looking over her left shoulder, were featured with her in the most common iconographic representations of Genevieve, including in several late medieval and early modern drawings, miniatures, and engravings. The image also appeared in the earliest surviving statues and miniatures of her, including her statue at the Louvre, created in the 13th century, and a miniature at her abbey.[38]

Genevieve's vita states that when a woman stole Genevieve's shoes, the woman was struck blind when she arrived at her home; someone led her back to Genevieve, who healed her after she asked for her forgiveness.[39] Her vita also reports that Genevieve was able to discern that a young woman was lying about her chastity and that "she restored vision, strength, and life to various people".[40] Genevieve also healed a nine-year-old girl who lived in Lyon and healed, by the laying on of her hands, a young girl who had not been able to walk for two years.[32] Genevieve resurrected a four-year-old boy, the son of a woman she had healed of demon possession, who had fallen into a well and drowned. The boy was baptised on Easter and was subsequently called Cellomerus because he "had recovered his life in [Genevieve's] cell".[41] Also during Easter, she healed a blind woman with prayers and with the sign of the cross. She healed a man from Meaux who had a withered hand and arm; she prayed for him, touched his arm and joints, and made the sign of the cross over him; he was restored to health in 30 minutes. She released twelve people who lived in Paris of demon possession; she ordered them to go to the Basilica of Saint-Denis and healed them after making the sign of the cross over each of them.[41]

Section of image in Nanterre Cathedral depicting Saint Genevieve blessing Paris

Genevieve was asked to heal the wife of a tribune of paralysis, which was done with prayer and the sign of the cross. While in Troyes, many people were brought to her for healing, including a sick child who was healed after drinking water she had blessed, as well as a blind man, whom the writer of her vita reports had been punished for working on Sunday. Her vita also reports that many people, including those suffering from demon possession, had been healed after tearing off parts of her garments.[42] She healed a city official, who had been deaf for four years, by touching his ears while making the sign of the cross over them. Her vita describes miracles that happened in Orléans through her intercessions, including raising the daughter of a family's matriarch from the dead and healing a man who became ill because he refused to forgive his servant.[43] Genevieve then visited Tours, "braving many perils on the River Loure";[44] she was greeted there by a crowd of people possessed by demons, whom she healed, with prayers and the sign of the cross, in the Basilica of Saint Martin. Some victims reported that Genevieve's fingers "blazed up one by one with celestial fire" while healing them.[45] She also healed three women of demon possession privately, in their homes, and at the request of their husbands. Genevieve's vita reports that in Tours, "everyone honored her in her comings and goings".[45] Her vita also reports that near Genevieve's home, she was able to spot and remove a demon from the opening of a water vessel.[46]

The parents of a young boy brought her their son, whom she healed of blindness, deafness, and paralysis by making the sign of the cross and rubbing oil on him. Her prayers protected a harvest near Meaux from a whirlwind during a rainstorm; neither the reapers nor the crops were touched by any water. Another time, while traveling by ship on the Seine, her prayers saved the ship; her vita makes the connection between this and the miracle of Christ calming the storm in the Gospels.[31] Genevieve would often use oil to anoint and heal the sick. Her vita reports that on one occasion, she sent for a vessel with oil that was supposed to have been blessed by a bishop, but after she prayed for an hour, the vessel was miraculously filled with oil and she was able to heal someone from demon possession.[47]