2024
promises to be a breathtaking year politically in Louisiana as Gov. Landry and
the new Louisiana Legislature, BESE Board, etc., get to work implementing a
conservative/revivalist agenda. Because
of that intensity, it is perhaps all the more essential that we take care not
to overlook other important aspects of life in our State.
Before the
political fireworks begin exploding in Baton Rouge on January 8th,
there is a feast day, January 3rd, celebrating an exceptional French
kinswoman of ours, St. Genevieve of Paris.
Here in short are the details of her
life:
As a child St. Geneviève met St. Germanus
of Auxerre (31st July) who foretold her future sanctity, and at the
age of fifteen, she received monastic tonsure. St. Geneviève had the gift of
clairvoyance, which at times led many around her to persecute her until the
Bishop of Paris came to her defence. When Paris was under attack by the Franks
and later by Attila and the Huns, St. Geneviève encouraged those defending the
city, and organised groups to pray for God’s protection. St. Geneviève reposed
in 500, and ever since has been considered the special protectress and patroness
of Paris.
To
understand St. Genevieve’s importance for Louisiana today, we must go deeper
into her life and legacy: specifically, to
the miracles that she has worked for the people of Paris.
First are
the miracles associated with water. The
author Moshe Sluhovsky relates
some of them:
In
the winter of 834, heavy rains deluged Paris; the city's bishop encouraged the
residents to fast and do penance. The only dry church where prayers could be
conducted was Genevieve's abbey, where the only dry area was floor found her
deathbed, which was kept in the abbey. The waters of the Seine receded
immediately. The miracle was compared to Moses' parting of the Red Sea in the Bible and her reliquary was compared to the Ark
of the Covenant, which, according to
Sluhovsky, authenticated Genevieve's power.[54] In December 1206, Genevieve was called upon to protect the
city from a flood; another procession was organised and her relics were, like
in 1129-1130, paraded into Paris and relics from other churches were escorted
with hers. Her body was brought from the abbey to Notre-Dame, a Mass was said, and then she was returned to the abbey. The
Seine receded and even though the relics and the participants in the procession
crossed the Petit Pont twice and the bridge's foundations were weakened from the
threatening flood waters, it did not collapse until the reliquary was returned
and no one was injured.[55] According to Sluhovsky, by the second half of the 1200s
and continuing into the early 16th century, a tradition of invoking Genevieve
to protect Paris from floods was established . . . .
The link to
Louisiana isn’t difficult to discern, as she, like Paris, is surrounded and
crisscrossed by numerous bodies of water, which often threaten and sometimes do
overflow their boundaries and cause destruction. Louisianans, like Parisians, ought not to be
shy about asking for her intercession when floodwaters threaten.
Second are
miracles associated with drought and farming.
Sluhovsky again:
During
the 1560s and 1570 and throughout the latter half of the 16th century,
Genevieve was invoked for assistance during famines and food shortages, both in
Paris and its outlaying areas.[90] Her invocations against water-based disasters, which
influenced the country's crop yields, began to include "all sorts of
agricultural and meteorological exigencies".[91] As Sluhovsky stated, Genevieve "gradually became the
patron saint of subsistence, the supplier of grain to the city".[91] Beginning in late 1500s, most of the processions with her
reliquary occurred during the spring and early summer harvest months; in the
previous centuries they occurred during the fall and winter, when the Seine was
likely to flood.[91] The response to all the major climate disasters of the
17th and 18th centuries were public invocations of Genevieve's interventions.[92]
. .
. In 1694, for example, Paris was in the middle of a severe
economic crisis, with poor harvests, bad weather, threats of starvation, and an
ongoing war, so the residents of Paris and the Ile-de-France invoked Genevieve
her intervention. Spontaneous processions and pilgrimages to St. Genevieve's
abbey started in early May, before an official proclamation allowed both
clerics and lay people to participate. At first, invocations were made at the
abbey, but it was not enough to improve the weather, so a public procession was
called for on May 27.[100] . . . Also according to Sluhovsky, "The procession
led to the expected results".[102] Rain began immediately after the procession began, saving
the country's crops, and other miracles occurred, including a victory against
Spain, healings from paralysis, and the decrease in the price of wheat. The
government of Paris commissioned a painting commemorating the event by Nicolas de Largillière.[102]
As a State
with an economy that is more heavily agricultural than others, these works of
St. Genevieve are also of great interest to us.
This past year, Louisiana experienced a severe drought and wildfires
along with it, harming crops, livestock, and timber. We deprived ourselves of a powerful helper in
the midst of all that distress by ignoring St. Genevieve.
Last are the
miracles associated with protection from war.
Here are a couple. This one
occurred during her
lifetime:
. . .
The rest is
at https://thehayride.com/2024/01/garlington-facing-2024-with-st-genevieve/.
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us
sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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