and courage, she was emboldened to take on herself the daring enterprise of procuring a supply of food for the famishing inhabitants of Paris. Taking advantage of the river approaches being left unguarded by the besiegers, she made her way in boat up the Seine, and purchased corn in the towns of Troyes, Arcis-sur-l'Aube, &c. While engaged in this work of charity, GOD brought her to be the instrument of His mercy in the various towns which she visited. Troyes was witness of miraculous powers wrought by her hands; here too the infirm were healed,—the blind recovered sight. In one case such miracle was wrought upon a girl who was born blind, and who obtained the blessing of vision by the sign of the Cross and invocation of the holy and undivided Trinity. To the same blessed arms of faith wielded by Geneviève, an ague was compelled to give way, which had for ten months shaken the frame of one of the subdeacons. Pieces from her garments also, applied to the sick in the assurance of faith, were found to be endued with miraculous power, and many were they who were thus restored to health. Nor were the miracles wrought by her at Arcis-surl'Aube less remarkable. The wife of Passivus, a military tribune, corresponding in rank to that of a colonel, had long been dangerously and incurably ill. Passivus, hearing of the arrival of Geneviève and the fame of her miracles, implored the efficacy of her aid for the recovery of the health of his beloved wife. To the prayer the magistrates of the city themselves joined their entreaties, being interested for one whose rank brought him into such constant habits of intimacy with themselves. The charity of Geneviève could not but yield to their united request. She exerted the God-given power that was in her, and the wife of the tribune was healed.

Having succeeded in the object of her mission, and laden eleven boats with corn, she proceeded in triumph down the Seine, accompanied by the wife of the tribune, whom gratitude seems to have bound in bands of an indissoluble friendship for her. On their voyage, a tremendous storm arose, the winds lashed the waters of the Seine into fury, and the impetuosity of the flood, as it hurried the vessels along, was ready to dash them to pieces upon the banks, thus threatening instant destruction to all on board. Geneviève, calm and self-possessed in the fulness of her confidence in GoD, lifted up her eyes to heaven, and besought His help whose word had stilled the tempest amid the waters of Gennesaret. Immediately, the winds abated, the waves subsided, and a perfect calm succeeded, which continued uninterrupted during the remainder of the voyage. So evidently miraculous was this deliverance, in answer to the prayer and faith of Geneviève, that Bes

sus, a priest, who was on board, with a heart glowing with gratitude, and lips filled with praise, chaunted the song of Moses, in token of acknowledgment of this especial mercy of Almighty GOD.

Meeting no further interruption in her way, Geneviève triumphantly entered the city of Paris, having brought a large supply of corn for the support of the inhabitants. On this, Childeric is said to have granted better terms to the citizens, being won by those proofs of wisdom and of courage which a Christian female had thus displayed. Ever after, though a Pagan, he held her in the highest esteem, and was not ashamed to seek her advice, and guide himself by her counsel. Many a time also, at her intercession, did he spare the lives of those who were condemned to death. So well aware indeed was he of the influence she had over him in this respect, that on one occasion, being determined to carry the sentence into execution with unsparing severity, he ordered the gates of Paris to be shut, with a view to prevent Geneviève, who at the time was absent from that city, having access to his person. She approached the city on her mission of mercy; the gates were closed,— were locked; but mercy was not so to be shut out ;—the gates opened spontaneously, the virgin flew to the king. The sternness of justice gave way before the pleadings of mercy, and the forfeited lives of the criminals were spared. Let us here pause for a moment, and contrast now the humble shepherdess of Nanterre, tending her flocks in the day of her childhood, with the now exalted and truly elevated religieuse of Paris. The wise counsellor of her fellow-citizens in the hour of their distress, with a heroism beyond her sex, undertaking a mission of danger and difficulty, to procure food amid the horrors of a siege, to allay the cravings of their hunger,-obtaining, by the admiration of her character, honourable terms of capitulation for the city from its royal enemy, whose heart, steeled against the approaches of pity, the sweetness of her intercession melts to tenderness and compassion. Well indeed might she take up those words of the canticle of our Blessed Lady: "He put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted the humble;" and well might Paris select her as patroness after death, whose intercession for its inhabitants, when she was on earth, had been so powerful and availing.

Nor was it indeed with impunity that any might venture to treat her solicitations in behalf of the wretched with neglect or contempt. On one occasion, having met with a contemptuous refusal from a person of rank, whom she had entreated to pardon his servant who had offended him, she addressed him thus: "If you hold me in contempt when supplicating you, my Lord Jesus Christ does not despise me, for he is

pious and clement."

That her's was no vain boast, was shortly manifest. The nobleman was seized with sickness; and humbled, was obliged from a bed of sickness to have recourse to the virgin whose intercession he had despised and rejected. Full of compassion, she besought for him her Lord, who, as she said, despised her not, and thus at the same time procured recovery for the master, and from him pardon for his slave.

Many were the pilgrimages which this holy virgin took to places which had been consecrated by the martyrdoms of the faithful, or the presence of the holy confessors of Christ. Thus Lyons, illustrious for the martyrdom of a Pothinus, a Blandina, and an Irenæus, was visited by her with a heart glowing with devotional feeling at the sight of a place which had been the scene of the sufferings and triumphs of so many a saint. Numerous were the miracles which she wrought here; amongst others, a girl nine years of age was healed by her of a paralysis. On another pilgrimage made by her to St. Anian's at Orleans, the divine power was mercifully manifested through her. Claudia, the daughter of a female called Fraterna, lay dangerously ill. Fraterna having heard of the fame of Geneviève, sought her at St. Anian's church, threw herself at her feet, and implored her aid for the recovery of her daughter. 'Lady Geneviève," said Fraterna, "restore to me my daughter.""Cease to trouble me," answered Geneviève; "your daughter is restored to health through the Divine mercy. Rise, and weep no more." Claudia was immediately healed; and without requiring any assistance, met her overjoyed mother at the door of her house, as, accompanied by Geneviève, Fraterna returned home.

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Tours also, so celebrated by the miracles and sanctity of the holy bishop St. Martin, was the object of another pilgrimage, which she made in company with other virgins, animated with a like affection and devotion to the memory of that saint; and this city also became the witness of her faith in healing diseases, through the sign of the lifegiving cross. But it was over demons that here the power of the virgin most remarkably appeared, "GOD" herein "choosing the weakest things of this world to confound the mighty." For, strong in the might of her Lord, never did the timidity of the weaker sex in her yield to those fears which the infuriate rage of the demons was so apt to awaken. Terrible in her beauty, she rebuked the demon with authority, made the sign of the cross in the name of Him who suffered thereon, and commanded the demon to go forth and leave the victim of his possession. Her words were always effectual, and the demon was forced to give way to a power mightier than his own, wielded by the finger of

a woman endued with the grace of God. It was thus she overcame the fury of a host of demoniacs who met her as, sailing down the Loire, she entered the harbour of Tours. In many instances, the simple sign of the cross was all she used; in others, she used oil in the name of the Lord. In the same city also she healed a child called Maronæus, who was blind, deaf and dumb, and lame. Healed as in a moment, to the astonishment of all, he saw, he heard, he spoke, and walked.

Childeric was succeeded by his son Clovis, who was still a Pagan. He married, however, a Christian, the princess Clotilda, who, herself destined by the sanctity of her life to share with Geneviève the courts of heaven, took pleasure in the friendship and conversation of the virgin saint. The conversion of Clovis was an object of solicitude to both; and Geneviève urged upon the queen the duty of doing every thing in her power to gain her husband to the faith,-how successfully, history attests, and the still existing monument of his piety and beneficence which he reared in the Hôtel Dieu at Paris.

Clovis, on embracing the faith of Christ, was naturally led to cultivate, in a still higher degree than before, the friendship of Geneviève, and many were the benevolent and pious actions which he did under the influence of her advice. Amongst others, it was at her suggestion that he laid the foundation of that magnificent basilica which he commenced to the honour of St. Peter and St. Paul. Death, however, overtook him shortly after it was begun; and it was left to the piety of his saintly queen, St. Clotilda, to finish a work which her husband had been encouraged to undertake very much on her advice. This basilica was adorned with a triple portico, in honour of those whose virtues had shed a lustre over the three great dispensations; patriarchs,-prophets, -martyrs and confessors.

Within the hallowed inclosure of this sacred building, were laid the bones of the founder Clovis, the first Christian king of the Franks. Here too were enshrined the remains of his queen, St. Clotilda,-and, still more distinguished in her celebrity and the fame of the miracles wrought at her tomb, those of the humble shepherdess of Nanterre, their adviser, their intercessor, and their friend, St. Geneviève, who did not long survive the king. At the advanced age of eighty-nine she yielded up her pure soul to GOD, warm in the glow of her charity, and strong in the ardour of her faith. To the last her aid was sought by the sick and the infirm, and their confidence received its reward in a restoration to health at the prayer of the saint.

A remarkable miracle is recorded as having been wrought by her not long before her decease. Being requested to cast out a demon

from one who was possessed, she took the phial to anoint the energumen in the name of the Lord, but found no oil therein, neither was a bishop nigh to consecrate such oil anew. Strong, however, in faith, she cried to GOD. The phial was replenished with oil; she anointed the demoniac with that which was thus miraculously supplied, and he was cleansed. Eighteen years afterwards, the author of her life records that he himself saw that phial still unfailing in its oil,—the silent witness of a twofold miracle, wrought by the prayers and faith of the saint.

mass.

Nor was it only during her lifetime that the miraculous grace granted to the sanctity of her earthly tabernacle manifested itself. The basilica not having been yet completed, a wooden oratory was raised over her tomb, and many were they who, resorting thither to be healed, returned home in perfect soundness of body, and filled with the overflowing of glad and grateful hearts. Thus, it is recorded of a man who was deprived of sight and speech, that praying before her sepulchre just as the priest said, Illumina faciem tuam super servum tuum,—“ Illumine thy face upon thy servant," he saw and spoke. To a native of Paris named Falconius, who was born deaf and dumb, it had been revealed that in the presence of St. Geneviève he should seek that liberty of speech which had been hitherto denied him. Obedient to the revelation, he repaired to her oratory just at the time the priest was saying There the gospel was read: Bene omnia fecit, et surdos fecit audire et mulos loqui,—“ He hath done all things well; he hath made both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak." Immediately his ears were opened, the string of his tongue was loosed; he heard,-he spoke. The priest, named Optatus, asked him what he would do in token of his gratitude for this wondrous favour which he had received. "Never leave this place," replied he, "which the Divine revelation pointed out to me as where I should receive a newness of voice." The priest complied with his request, taking care to make such arrangements as were necessary for his support. Numerous also were the miracles which were wrought by the oil of the lamp that burned before her sepulchre. Sainted as her relics were, they were enshrined by the piety of St. Eligius, who considered himself honoured in making for her, with his own hands, a costly shrine of silver and of gold.

Nor was the fame of her miraculous powers, and the benefit thence derived, confined to Paris and its neighbourhood. The wisdom of GOD decreed that the inroads of the Normans should be the occasion of adding increased celebrity to the name of His servant. Afraid lest the splendour and richness of her shrine might tempt the cupidity of those barbarous invaders who were not yet converted to the Christian