ST. GERMAINE COUSIN

The Saint of the Day for June 15 is ST. GERMAINE COUSIN


Germaine was born to poor parents. Her father was a farmer, and her mother died when she was still an infant. She was born with a deformed right arm and hand and the disease of scrofula, a tubercular condition.

When her father remarried soon after the death of her mother she was kicked out of the house and forced to sleep under the stairway in the barn on a pile of leaves and twigs, on account of her stepmother’s dislike of her and disgust of her condition. She tended to the families flock of sheep everyday.

Despite her hardships she lived each day full of thanksgiving and joy, and spent much of her time praying the rosary and teaching the village children about the love of God. She was barely fed and had an emaciated figure, yet despite this she shared the little bread that she had with the poor of the village.

She went to Mass everyday, leaving her sheep in the care of her guardian angel, who never failed her. Germaine’s deep piety was looked upon with ridicule by the villagers, but not by the children, who were drawn to her holiness.

However, the adults of the village were soon to realize the special holiness of this poor, emaciated, crippled shepherdess when the favours that God granted upon Germaine were discovered. She was often seen walking across the river to get to Mass, and one day in winter, when she was being chased by her stepmother who accused her of stealing bread, she opened her apron and fresh summer flowers fell out.

Just as the villagers were realizing her worth, she was taken to Heaven. Her father found her body on her bed of leaves one morning in her 22nd year.

43 years later, when a relative of hers was being buried, Germaine’s casket was opened and her body was found incorrupt. Soon people in the surrounding area were praying for her intercession and obtaining miraculous cures for all sorts of sickness, congenital diseases and physical conditions. There are more than 400 reported cases of miracles obtained through her intercession.

She was canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1867 and inscribed into the canon of virgins.