Hierarch6th century

Saint Germanus Bishop of Paris

c. 496 – 576

Also known as Germain of Paris

A monk who became bishop of Paris, renowned for his almsgiving, his care of captives and the poor, and his labors to soften the violence of the Frankish kings; many miracles were worked through him.

May 28New Calendar

Feast Day

June 10Old Calendar

Suggest a correction Contribute

Icon galleryBrowse icons and imagery elsewhere

Commemorated as

Our Father among the Saints Germanus, Bishop of Paris, the Wonderworker

Come to them for

Healing

Life

Germanus of Paris was a sixth-century Gallo-Roman monk and bishop who rose from the abbacy of a monastery near Autun to the episcopal see of Paris, which he held from the mid-550s until his death in 576. He was remembered above all for an austere monastic discipline that he never set aside as bishop, for an almsgiving so lavish that it unsettled those around him, and for his persistent efforts to soften the violence of the Frankish kings and to draw them toward reform.

His memory became inseparable from the great Parisian abbey that came to bear his name, Saint-Germain-des-Pres, where his relics were enshrined and carried in procession through the city in times of plague and crisis for centuries. A pre-schism Western saint of the undivided Church, he is commemorated in the Orthodox calendar on May 28.

Troparion2 hymnsReadHide

TroparionTone 7

Holy Germanus, as bishop of Paris you remained the monk you always were,
cherishing the beauty of the Liturgy and developing the cult of the saints.
Your miracles merited your veneration by young and old alike.
It was thus that you exercised a happy influence over the powerful,
and prevailed on them to free slaves and release prisoners.
And in the name of Christ, in the Church of Gaul you made concord and peace to reign.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

TroparionTone 8

Let us celebrate the father of the poor, the treasure of the needy,
the master of wisdom of kings and powerful men,
the unifier of the Church of Gaul, the unmercenary healer of all illnesses:
Saint Germanus, the founder of the abbey that still bears his name,
the crafter of peace, the exemplary pastor of Paris:
for he intercedes for our souls before Christ our God.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline6 momentsReadHide

c. 496Birth near AutunGermanus was born around 496 near Augustodunum (modern Autun) in Gaul, in the region then under Burgundian rule, to Gallo-Roman parents named by tradition as Eleutherius and Eusebia.
c. 530Ordination and abbacyAt about the age of thirty-four he was ordained a priest by Bishop Agrippinus of Autun and appointed abbot of the Monastery of St. Symphorian near Autun.
c. 555Consecration as Bishop of ParisAfter the death of the bishop of Paris, King Childebert, with the support of clergy and people, had Germanus consecrated to the see of Paris.
557, 566, 573Conciliar activityAs bishop he took part in the Third Council of Paris (557), the Second Council of Tours (566), and the Fourth Council of Paris (573).
558Dedication of Childebert's churchHe dedicated the church built by King Childebert to house relics of St. Vincent of Saragossa on December 23, 558; the king died the same day. The church later became the abbey known as Saint-Germain-des-Pres.
May 28, 576ReposeGermanus reposed on May 28, 576, at an advanced age, having served the see of Paris for some two decades.

Contributions & Legacy

3 contributionsReadHide

Early Life and Monastic Formation

Germanus came from a noble Gallo-Roman family settled near Autun in Gaul. He received his education from a kinsman, a priest named by the sources as Scapilion, at Avallon and Luzy, where he was noted for diligence in the religious life, rising for the midnight office of Matins regardless of the weather.

Ordained a priest by Bishop Agrippinus of Autun around the age of thirty-four, he was made abbot of the nearby Monastery of St. Symphorian. His rule of life there was hardworking and severe, and his charitable distributions to the poor were so generous that the monks, fearing for the house's resources, are said to have turned against him.

Bishop of Paris

In the mid-550s, on the death of the sitting bishop, King Childebert nominated Germanus to the see of Paris with the support of the clergy and people. He carried his monastic austerity into the episcopate and labored to lessen the suffering caused by the constant wars among the Frankish kingdoms.

He exercised a strong moral influence over the Frankish court, drawing King Childebert away from a sinful manner of life toward reform and pressing the royal house to suppress the pagan practices that persisted in Gaul. By tradition he was driven to excommunicate one of the kings for his immorality, and he repeatedly sought to broker peace among the rival rulers, though his efforts met with limited success.

He was an active participant in the church councils of his day, attending the Third and Fourth Councils of Paris and the Second Council of Tours. A liturgical exposition describing the Gallican rite then in use in Gaul, before the later adoption of the Roman rite, has been associated with his name.

Relics and Shrines

Germanus was buried at the church that King Childebert had built to receive the relics of St. Vincent of Saragossa and which Germanus himself had dedicated in 558. As his veneration grew, the church and its monastery came to be known by his name, Saint-Germain-des-Pres.

His relics were solemnly translated within the church in the eighth century, an event the sources connect with the presence of the Frankish ruler and the young Charlemagne. For centuries afterward his relics were carried in procession through the streets of Paris during plagues and other calamities. The church suffered repeated damage from Norman raids in the ninth century, was rebuilt in the eleventh, and was rededicated in the twelfth.

Works & Further ReadingReadHide