GENEVIEVE, zh6n'vyfiv', SAINT (Let. Geno vela) (c.422-512). The patron saint of Paris, and the subject of many popular and highly poetical legends. She was horn about 422, in the vil lage of Nanterre, near Paris, where, as a mere child, she attracted the notice of Saint Germanus of Auxerre (q.v.), who passed a night at Nan terre on his way to Britain, about 430, and who is said to have marked her out as specially des tined to a life of holiness and purity. She de voted herself to a life of virginity and conven tual seclusion. On the death of her parents she removed to Paris; and her active charity, and the extraordinary reputation for sanctity which she acquired, both there and in other cities of France which she visited on missions of Chris tian benevolence, won for her the admiring ven eration, not alone of her own people, but even of the heathen or half converted. The Frankish rulers Childeric and Clovis set prisoners free at her intercession. When, about 450, it was proposed to abandon Paris in alarm at the ap proach of Attila and the Huns, Genevieve, as sembling the matrons and consecrated virgins in one of the churches, exhorted them to avert, by prayer and fasting, the threatened calamity. The
unexpected alteration of the direction of Attila's march added still more to her reputation and to her influence. Later, when Clovis besieged the city, Genevieve, with her sisters in religion, set out on an expedition for the relief of the starving people, and successfully conveyed to Paris a supply of provisions. She died in Paris, January 3, 512. Under her patronage, and with her name, a religious congregation of priests—`The Canons of Saint Genevieve'—was founded in the eleventh century, which, with some vicissitudes, continued until the Revolution (1789). A reli gious congregation of women, under the name of `Sisters of Saint Genevieve,' was established in 1636 for the purpose of caring for the sick and the education of girls. An edifice built in her honor, and upon the supposed site of her tomb, in 1764-90, and which is now called the Pantheon, contains the famous mural painting of the saint by Puvis de Chavannes. Adjoining is the Library of Saint Genevieve, containing 200,000 volumes, and near by is a relic of the Abbey of Saint Gene vieve. Consult her life by Vidian (Paris, 1883).