Saint Genesius is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 saint

Saint

A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...

. He was the twenty-first Bishop of Clermont and his feast day is celebrated on June 3.

The legend, which is of a rather late date (Acta SS., June, I, 315), says that he was descended from a senatorial

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

 family of Auvergne

Auvergne (province)

Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....

.

Having received a liberal education he renounced his worldly prospects for the service of the Church, became archdeacon

Archdeacon

An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...

 of Clermont under Bishop Proculus, and succeeded him in the episcopacy in 656 despite his protests.

He laboured earnestly for the maintenance of Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 morality, and founded a hospital at Clermont and also the Abbey of Manlieu. After serving as bishop for five years, fearing for his own soul, he left Clermont secretly and went to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 in the garb of a pilgrim

Pilgrim

A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...

. The bereaved flock sent a deputation to the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

. Genesius was found and induced to return.

Genesius then proceeded to build a convent

Convent

A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...

 at Chantoin, a church and a hospice. He was buried in the church which he had built at Clermont in honour of St. Symphorian, and which later took his own name. In the life of Praejectus (Prix), Genesius is mentioned as one of the protectors of his childhood.

Sources

• The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1909 Edition.
• Dictionary of Saints, John J. Delaney, 2003.