Description
The St. Germaine Medal is a metal medal with a 2.5x1.5cm nickel plated design of St. Germaine, cousin of Saint Francis of Assisi. The medal's feast day is June 15th, and it is patron saint of victims of child abuse and disabled people. Germaine was born with a deformed hand and was mistreated by her mother, Hortense. Laurent, Hortense's husband, did not intervene when Hortense left Germaine in a drain while she took care of chickens, and he did not notice when Hortense poured boiling water on her legs. With this treatment, Germaine became ill and contracted tuberculosis, which caused her neck glands to swell and her sores to appear. Germaine found solace in her faith and found friends among the animals she tended, and she was known for her generosity. When Hortense caught Germaine carrying bread to give to a beggar, she began to beat her. Germaine opened her apron and revealed flowers she had found in the snow. When Germaine shared her food with beggars, she showed forgiveness to her mother. The story of Germaine's life and her forgiveness won the admiration of the villagers.
Medal
metal - 2.5 x 1.5cm
Nickel plated
St. Germaine Cousin
Feastday:
June 15
Patron:
victims of child abuse
Birth: 1579
Death: 1601
When Hortense decided to marry Laurent Cousin in Pibrac, France, it was not out of love for his infant daughter. Germaine was everything Hortense despised. Weak and ill, the girl had also been born with a
right
hand that was deformed and paralyzed. Hortense replaced the love that Germaine has lost when her mother died with cruelty and abuse.
Laurent, who had a weak character, pretended not to notice that Germaine had been given so little food that she had learned to crawl in order to get to the dog's dish. He wasn't there to protect her when Hortense left Germaine in a drain while she cared for chickens -- and forgot her for three days. He didn't even interfere when Hortense poured boiling water on Germaine's legs.
With this kind of treatment, it's no surprise that Germaine became even more ill. She came down with a disease known as scrofula, a kind of tuberculosis that causes the neck glands to swell up. Sores began to appear on her neck and in her weakened
condition
to fell prey to every disease that came along. Instead of awakening Hortense's pity this only made her despise Germaine more for being even uglier in her eyes.
Germaine found no sympathy and love with her siblings. Watching their mother's treatment of their half-sister, they learned how to despise and torment her, putting
ashes
in her food and pitch in her clothes. Their mother found this very entertaining.
Hortense did finally get concerned about Germaine's sickness -- because she was afraid her own
children
would catch it. So she made Germaine sleep out in the barn. The only warmth Germaine had on frozen winter nights was the woolly sheep who slept there too. The only food she had were the scraps Hortense might remember to throw her way.
The abuse of Germaine tears at our hearts and causes us to cry for pity and justice. But it was Germaine's response to that abuse and her cruel
life
that wins our awe and veneration.
Germaine was soon entrusted with the sheep. No one expected her to have any use for
education
so she spent long days in the field tending the sheep. Instead of being lonely, she found a friend in God. She didn't know any theology and only the basics of the
faith
that she learned the catechism. But she had a
rosary
made of knots in string and her very simple prayers: "Dear God, please don't let me be too hungry or too thirsty. Help me to please my mother. And help me to please you." Out of that simple faith, grew a profound
holiness
and a deep trust of God.
And she had the most important
prayer
of all -- the Mass. Every day, without fail, she would leave her sheep in God's care and go to Mass. Villagers wondered that the sheep weren't attacked by the wolves in the woods when she left but God's protection never failed her. One day when the rains had swollen the river to flood stage, a villager saw the river part so that she could cross to get to the church in
time
for Mass.
No
matter
how little Germaine had, she shared it with others. Her scraps of food were given to beggars. Her
life
of
prayer
became stories of
God
that entranced the village children.
But most startling of all was the forgiveness to showed to the
woman
who deserved her hatred.
Hortense, furious at the stories about her daughter's holiness, waited only to catch her doing wrong. One cold winter day, after throwing out a beggar that Germaine had let sleep in the barn, Hortense caught Germaine carrying something bundled up in her apron. Certain that Germaine had stolen bread to feed the beggar, she began to chase and scream at the child. As she began to beat her, Germaine opened her apron. Out tumbled what she had been hiding in her apron -- bright beautiful flowers that no one had expected to see for months. Where had she found the vibrant blo
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