One of our partner park sites – Ste. Geneviève National Historical Park – understandably carries the name of the small Missouri town where it’s located.  But have you ever wondered who the “real” Sainte Genevieve was?

Now known as the Patron Saint of Paris, Geneviève lived in 5^th century France, where she was widely admired for her piety, devotion, and charitable works.  She had frequent visions of angels and saints, and she was appointed by the bishop of Paris to look after other religious women of the city. Though she was reportedly born to a wealthy family in a Paris suburb, Geneviève followed an austere lifestyle.  Not only did she impose strict punishments on herself, she ate only twice a week, surviving on small portions of barley bread and beans.

In 451 when Attila the Hun threatened to attack Paris, Geneviève persuaded the panic-stricken residents of the city not to flee but to pray.  When Attila’s army diverted to Orléans instead, many credited her intervention with saving Paris.  Years later she prevented famine by penetrating a military blockade and delivering much-needed grain to the city.

After living a remarkable 90 years, Geneviève was laid to rest in a Paris abbey.  Her burial site became a place of pilgrimage, as worshippers reported many instances of miracles and cures attributed to her intercession.  Even today, her name is invoked during natural disasters such as drought, flooding, and widespread fever. 

When the town of Ste. Geneviève was founded along the Mississippi River in the 1750s, the French Catholic immigrants named their settlement after Geneviève in the hopes she would protect them from the trials and hardships they would encounter in their new home. 

The staff at Ste. Geneviève National Historical Park also honor her legacy with a statue of the beloved saint on an outside wall of the historic Jean-Baptiste Vallé House.  Be sure to look for it next time you visit the park.