Feast day: January 3

St. Genevieve

Virgin · c. 419–512

Patron of Paris, against disasters

A peasant girl near Paris who, by her prayer and influence, is credited with sparing the city from Attila's Huns and organizing relief during famine and siege.

Genevieve was born about 422 in a village near Paris, and as a young girl, the tradition says, she was singled out by the great bishop St. Germanus of Auxerre, who foretold her holiness as he passed through. Still a child, she consecrated her life to God, and after the death of her parents she went to live in Paris, where she gave herself to prayer, penance, and works of charity, though her austerity and her claims of visions at first earned her suspicion and ridicule.

Her hour came in 451, when Attila and his vast army of Huns swept westward across Gaul, and the terrified people of Paris prepared to abandon the city and flee. Genevieve urged them instead to stay, to trust in God, and to give themselves to prayer and fasting, promising that the city would be spared. The Huns turned aside and Paris was untouched — and her counsel was vindicated in the eyes of all.

She showed the same courage and practical love some years later, when the Frankish king blockaded Paris and the city was gripped by famine. Genevieve organized relief, leading a flotilla of boats up the river to bring back grain for the starving, and distributing food to those in greatest need — a leader in disaster as well as in prayer.

Her influence reached even the rulers of the new Frankish kingdom, and she encouraged the building of a church over the tomb of St. Denis. She died about 512, full of years, and Paris took her as its patron saint and protector, turning to her in later centuries in times of plague, flood, and danger. She remains the beloved guardian of the city.

When Attila's army turned away from Paris in 451, the people credited Genevieve's all-night prayer vigils — she remains the city's patron to this day.

Source: newadvent.org/cathen/06413f.htm