Saint Gens of Le Beaucet

Saint Gens of Le Beaucet
detail of a painted triptique of Saint Gens by Paul Vayson, 1910Also known as

Gens du Beaucet
Gens of Bausset
Gens Bournarel
Gens the Hermit
Gein
Gence
Gensius
Gentius
Genzio
Memorial

16 May
Profile

Hermit at Le Beaucet, France in the early 12th century, drawn to the life of a holy solitary in his teens. His father gave him two cows, and he lived from their milk, from the garden that they plowed, and by trading milk and vegetables to other people. He was known for severe penances, a life of constant prayer, and as a miracle worker.

Legend says that a dought was ended by a religious procession led by Gens. Another says that when his parents visited him, he caused a spring of fresh water and one of wine to spring from the earth to give them drink. Another says that when a wolf tried to attack Gens’s cows, he caused it to stop, prayed for it, tamed it, and the animal helped the cattle plow the garden plot.

Born

1104 in Monteux, Carpentras, France
Died

16 May 1127 or 1140 (records vary) at Le Beaucet, France of natural causes
buried under a rock in the valley of Le Beaucet
a monastery was later built near the tomb
for centuries, in a dry May, members of La confrérie de Saint-Gens (Brotherhood of Saint-Gens-de-Monteux) made a pilgrimage from the local church to the old hermitage, carrying a statue of the saint
Canonized

Pre-Congregation
Patronage

farmers, farm workers
for rain
–
in France
Avignon
Le Beaucet
Saint-Gence
Saint-Gein