THE CINDERELLA
This is the inspiring story of St Germaine Cousin who endured daily humiliation at the hands of her step mother but never retaliated or stopped loving her.
CHILDHOOD
Germaine Cousin was born in Pibrac, France in 1579. She was a frail and sickly child and her right arm was deformed and slightly paralysed. At a young age her mother died and her father remarried. Her step mother neglected Germaine and treated her cruelly. When Germaine contracted scrofula, a kind of tuberculosis that caused her neck glands to swell up and produced open sores on her body she was banished from the family home to sleep with the animals in case she passed on the disease to the rest of the family. With little food to eat and no friends Germaine endured her suffering silently. She was forced to sleep in the barn during freezing winter nights where she huddled together with the sheep for warmth but she never complained. The family decided that she wasn’t worth educating and so she was given the job of looking after the family sheep and she was often so hungry that she ate what the dogs and the pigs left behind.
A FRIEND IN GOD
Instead of feeling lonely and sad, Germaine found a friend in God. The only education she received was from the sermons at Mass and from the Catechism classes at church but she found great consolation in her strong faith. When she started attending daily Mass she would leave her sheep in God’s care entrusting that He would keep them safe. The villagers were amazed that none of her flock ever wandered away or were attacked by wolves while she was gone. God’s protection never failed her.
LOVING
When Germaine was given food, she would share it with the beggars. Her simple prayer to the Lord was, “Dear God please don't let me be too hungry or too thirsty and help me to please my mother and please you God.” One cold winter day, the villagers saw her stepmother chasing Germaine down the street screaming at her and accusing her of stealing a loaf of bread and hiding it in her apron. After threatening to hit the girl if she didn’t show her what she was hiding, Germaine opened her apron and out tumbled some beautiful sweet smelling flowers that were only found in summer. She then handed a flower to her mother and said, "Please accept this flower, Mother. God sends it to you as a sign of his forgiveness.”
DEATH AND BURIAL
One day at the age of 22, her father found her dead on her bed of straw in the barn, her Rosary entwined in her fingers and her face shining like an angel. As was the custom at the time, Germaine’s body was buried in an unmarked grave under the flagstone floor of the local church. Forty one years later, one of Germaine’s relatives died and they began preparing to bury them in the same grave. When they lifted the flagstones, they discovered the perfectly preserved body of a beautiful young woman in the grave. With a deformed arm and scars from scrofula clearly visible, the body was easily identified as that of Germaine Cousin.
DEVOTION
Local devotion grew and many miracles were attributed to Germaine’s intercession. But even after her death things did not go smoothly for Germaine. The leaders of the French Revolution regarded the local devotion as ‘superstition’ and this infuriated them. So they sent men to Pibrac to try to destroy Germaine’s body. It is said that they threw it in a pit and covered it with quicklime, a caustic substance that would destroy any flesh that was left on the bones. But after the revolution her body was dug up once more, and found to be as beautiful and preserved as ever. Despite numerous miracles occurring through her intercession, it was not until 266 years after her death that Germaine was declared a Saint by Pope Pius IX in June 1867. Her feast day is on 15th June.
Prayer: Saint Germaine, look down from Heaven and intercede for children who suffer cruelty and abuse. Please pray for young people affected by family breakdowns. Protect those children who have been abandoned and live on the streets. Saint Germaine, you who suffered neglect and abuse so patiently, pray for us.
