Saint Gens (1104 – 16 May 1127), also named Saint Gens du Beaucet, was a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

Biography

He was born in Monteux, near

Carpentras Carpentras (, formerly ; Provençal Occitan: ''Carpentràs'' in classical norm or ''Carpentras'' in Mistralian norm; la, Carpentoracte) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. ...

, in today's southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at the beginning of the 12th century. When he was a teenager, he lived far from his family and his village, as a hermit, in a small valley around Le Beaucet. He lived in renouncement, praying, working and doing penitence. He is called upon to obtain rain during droughts. With his death, on May 16, 1127, he was buried close to a rock in the middle of the small valley where a Romance vault was high about the middle of the 12th century. Many miracles are attributed to his intervention, and his

veneration Veneration ( la, veneratio; el, τιμάω ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Ety ...

is approved by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Legends and miracles

* Gens settled in the ruins of an old monastery, cultivating a plot of land for his subsistence with the help of the two cows which his father had given him on his departure. He prayed unceasingly for all sinners. One day, he was deeply absorbed by his prayer, a wolf rushed on one of his cows to slaughter it. Gens tamed the wolf, and forced it to plow with the cow which remained. * His mother sought him to bring back him to Monteux. She asked him for a little water, because she was thirsty. At once, a source ran on her hand. * Arriving at Monteux, Gens asked the priests of the place to organize a procession to obtain the end of the drought. The procession had not yet traversed the streets of the village when the rain started to fall.

External links

Site officiel de la confrérie de Saint-Gens

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gens French Roman Catholic saints 1104 births 1127 deaths