Genoveva of Paris

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St. Genoveva (painting from the 16th century)
Statue of St. Genoveva in the parish church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

Genoveva von Paris , also in the spelling Genovefa , French Geneviève, (* around 422 in Nanterre , † around 502 in Paris ) was a consecrated virgin and saint . She is the patron saint of Paris.

Legend

As a young girl, Genoveva took a vow of eternal virginity. At home she was very ascetic and devoted herself to prayer and meditation . After the death of her parents, she went to Paris and lived in the service of the poor and the sick. According to tradition, from the age of 15 to 50, she only ate food and drink twice a week. The writing Vita Genovefae virginis Parisiensis by an unknown author on the life of St. Genoveva is dated around the year 520, that is only about 18 years after her death. In addition to describing their ascetic way of life, especially prayer and fasting, the author praises their many spiritual virtues.

According to legend, she predicted that Attila would spare Paris if he marched. As he approached, she encouraged the population to pray and the men to defend the city. The men wanted to stone her, but the women prayed with her, and Attila did not attack Paris.

In 460 Genoveva had a church built over the graves of the two saints Dionysius of Paris and Eleutherus , for which King Dagobert I († 639) later donated the Saint-Denis abbey . She is said to have contributed to the conversion of King Clovis I († 511).

Afterlife

Genoveva was in the Apostle Church buried in Paris, located in a monastery developed, which, as in the 12th century, newly built church of St. Genevieve consecrated was. The church was replaced again in the 18th century by a larger building, which we know today as the Panthéon . The few remaining parts of the monastery can be seen in the Lycée Henri IV next to the Panthéon. During the French Revolution in 1793, their bones were publicly cremated. A new reliquary is located in the parish church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont on Place Sainte-Geneviève in Paris.

The feast day of St. Genoveva in the liturgy of the Catholic Church is January 3. Her iconographic attributes of saints are candles, angels and devils, chalice-like vessels and the keys of Paris.

literature

  • Martin Heinzelmann, Joseph-Claude Poulin: Les vies anciennes de sainte Geneviève de Paris . Champion-Slatkin, Paris 1986, ISBN 2-05-100712-8 .
  • L. Schütz: Genoveva of Paris . In: Lexicon of Christian Iconography - Iconography of the Saints. Volume 6: Crescentianus from Tunis to Innocentia. Herder, Freiburg 1974, ISBN 3-451-22568-9 , Sp. 361–365.
  • Gönna Hartmann-Petersen: Genovefa of Paris - person, admiration and reception of a saint of the Franconian Empire (= Kiel Theological Series. Vol. 4). LIT, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-8258-9966-0 (Zugl .: Kiel, Univ., Diss., 2005).

Web links

Commons : Genoveva of Paris  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Susanne Wittern: Women, Holiness and Power - Latin women's vitae from the 4th to 7th centuries . Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1994, ISBN 3-476-00951-3 , p. 63 (Zugl .: Berlin, Techn. Univ., Diss., 1991).
personal data
SURNAME Genoveva of Paris
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Genovefa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Virgin, saint, patron saint of the city of Paris
DATE OF BIRTH at 422
PLACE OF BIRTH Nanterre
DATE OF DEATH at 502
Place of death Paris