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Saint Genevieve as a young shepherdess with her distaff and book, looking up to heaven, painted by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun in 1821

Saint Genevieve

Urged Paris to prayer and penance as Attila’s Huns swept over Gaul in 451

Patron of
Paris, winemakers (in the Middle Ages)
Western calendar
3 January
Orthodox calendar
3 January, kept by the Orthodox Church in America

Genevieve was a little girl of Nanterre, near Paris, when Germanus of Auxerre noticed her in the crowd, and when she told him she wished to give herself to Christ he gave her a medal with a cross to wear in place of pearls and gold. She lived in Paris in prayer and fasting, and in 451, when Attila and his Huns were sweeping over Gaul and the people were ready to flee, she urged them to penance and trust in God, and the Huns turned off towards Orléans. “We must keep vigil in prayer and fasting so that the Lord will find us ready when He comes,” she said, and Paris has kept her as its patroness.

Sources

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What is a saint’s feast day?

It is the day each year when the Church remembers a saint in its prayers, and for most saints it is the day they died and went home to God. Many saints here have two dates, because the Western and Orthodox Churches keep their own calendars, and some Orthodox churches still count by the old Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind ours.

What is a patron saint?

A patron saint is one we ask to pray for us in a particular place, work or need, as many ask Anthony of Padua for help when something is lost, and as Ireland looks to Patrick. A few patronages were declared by a pope, and most grew from long custom. A card says “Patron of” only where a source we checked names one.

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We began with the saints people search for most, by name, by need and by date, along with the apostles and the saints Orthodox Christians look for. Then we made sure every day of the year has at least one saint. That gives 378 so far, and we keep adding the saints readers ask for.

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