02 — The Consecrated Virgin
Genevieve’s entry into the consecrated life: the reception of the veil from the bishop after the death of her parents, and the severe ascetic regime of prayer, fasting, and vigil she embraced in Paris; and the tradition of an early hostility to her — a period in which she was mistrusted and even threatened — that was overcome, so that her holiness came to be publicly recognized.
Tradition: Western (pre-Schism, Gallo-Roman Gaul)
This section follows Genevieve from the childhood betrothal of Section 01 into the mature form of her life. She was, by the Vita, a consecrated virgin living in the world rather than a cloistered nun — a virgo Dei in the city, given to extreme fasting and unbroken prayer, and later a leader of a company of consecrated women. That intensity provoked opposition: the Vita records that some in Paris regarded her ascetic feats and her claims to visions with suspicion or malice, and that only the intervention of authority — and the vindication of events — silenced the hostility. The two files treat the ascetic life and the pattern of opposition-and-vindication that recurs across her career.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| the-veil-and-the-ascetic-life.md | Her consecration as a virgin and reception of the veil; the severe ascetic life of fasting, vigil, and prayer in Paris; the visions and charisms the Vita attributes to her; her place among consecrated virgins in the Gallic Church. |
| opposition-and-vindication.md | The tradition of early hostility and mistrust — the charge that she was a false visionary — and its overcoming, in part through Germanus’ intervention from afar; the recurring pattern of opposition answered by vindication. |
See Also
- The Blessing of Saint Germanus — the childhood consecration this life fulfils
- Attila and the Deliverance of 451 — the public deed that most vindicated her standing
- Monasticism — the consecrated ascetic life in Orthodox tradition
References
- Vita Genovefae, ed. Krusch, MGH SRM 3 (1896), esp. §§8–13.
- McNamara, Halborg, and Whatley, trans., Sainted Women of the Dark Ages (Duke University Press, 1992), “Genovefa, Virgin of Paris.”