GENEVA, CONSENSUS OF (Consensus Genevensis): A document drawn up by Calvin for the purpose of uniting the Swiss Reformed churches with regard to the doctrine of predestination. It appeared at Geneva in 1552, having received the signatures of all the pastors of that city. But beyond Geneva it acquired no symbolical authority, and attempts to enlist the civil government in its favor created dissatisfaction and opposition in Bern, Basel, and Zurich.

Bibliography: The text is in Calvin's Opera, viii (1870), 249-366, and in H. A. Niemeyer, Collectio eonteasionum, pp. 218-310, Leipsic, 1840. For history end full references to literature consult Schaff, Creeds, i. 474-477, and the literature on CALVIN.

GENEVIEVE, jen''e-viv': The name of two saints of the Roman Catholic Church.

1. Genevieve, Patron Saint of Paris

Born, according to tradition, at Nanterre (7 m. n.w. of Paris), perhaps in 422; d. at Paris Jan. 3, 512. She is mentioned by Gregory of Tours (Hist. Francorum, iv. 1) as one of the saints venerated at Paris, and as buried in the basilica of the apostles Peter and Paul, built by Clovis I. and his queen. The Latin life of

451

St. Genevieve, said to date in its earliest form from 520, states that her parents were the Christians Severus and Gerontia, and describes the extraor dinary piety of her childhood, together with her powers of prophecy and her ability to work miracles. In 429 Bishop Germanus of Auxerre (q.v.) is said to have dedicated her to the Lord when he visited Nanterre on his way to England to combat Pela gianism. When about fifteen, after the death of her parents, St. Genevieve went to Paris, where she took the veil. During the invasion of the Huns in 451, she is said to have prophesied their speedy defeat and to have averted the famine in Paris and the surrounding cities by miraculous gifts of bread. After her death her relics brought the basilica of Peter and Paul such fame by their miraculous power that the name was changed to that of Ste. Genevi6ve. Before the destruction of this church in the Norman occupation of 857, her relics were taken to Athis, but, after their return to Paris, a stately church was erected to her, by Abbot Stephen of Tournay (1177-80), where her magnificent reli quary of gold and jewels, borne by four gigantic female figures, was preserved until it was destroyed during the French Revolution. It is generally admitted that at least the kernel of the tradition concerning St. Genevieve is authentic, the argu ments of Kruach, the chief opponent of the his toricity of the account, being refuted by Duchesne, Narbey, and others. 2. Genevieve, Palgravine of Brabant: This saint is apparently the product of a legend of the late Middle Ages. According to tradition, she was the wife of the Rhenish Palgrave Siegfried, who was supposed to have flourished in the eighth century; after successfully resisting the advances of one Golo during her husband's absence, she is said to have been committed by her would-be seducer to the charge of a servant, together with her new born child, to be drowned. The servant, however, merely conducted her to a lonely spot, where she was miraculously sustained and later discovered by her husband while hunting. This form of the legend, preserved in Eymich'a account, was ampli fied by the Jesuit De Cerisiers, who also wrote a tragedy on the theme. The tradition originally centered about the chapel of Frauenkirche near Maria-Laach (20 m. w.n.w. of Coblenz), which was believed to have been founded by the palgrave and crusader Siegfried (d. 1113). His wife, originally Gertrude, a countess of Nordheim with estates in Brabant, was transformed by legend into a Gene vieve, and, as a Brabantine counterpart to Ste. Genevi6ve of Paris, seems to have been approxi mated to her in time, so that she was supposed to have lived in the days of Charles Martel. Numerous attempts have been made to maintain the historic ity of the tradition, either in part, as by Kupp and Sauerborn, or in whole, as by Brower, who iden tifies the mythical Bishop Hidulf mentioned in the legend with the historical Archbishop Hillin of Treves (1152-(i9), and thus places the beginning of the story in the twelfth century. On the other hand, Baronius and the ASB deny the existence of a Brabantine St. Genevieve, while Zacher has sought unsuccessfully to interpret the legend myth- ologically by identifying Siegfried with Odin, Golo with Ullr, and the like.

(O. Zöckler.)

Bibliography: 1. The literature, mostly devotional, is voluminous. A well-eeleeted list is given in Potthaet, Wepweiser, pp. 1331-32. The earliest (anonymous) Vita is best edited by B. Krnach in MGH, Script. rer. Merov., iii (1896), 204--238, cf. Kruach in NA, xviii (1893), 1150, xix (1894), 444-459. This Vita, with two others, also anonymous, and Miracula and Revelatio, is in ASS, Jan., i. 143-153. C. Kohler has edited a fourth in LStude eri.fque sur Is texts de la Vie l"ne de S. Geneviive, Paris, 1881, while the first in edited by C. Narbey, Quel eat to texfe audsntique de la Vie de S. Genevitve, ib. 1884. Con sult: L. S. Le Nain de Tillemont, Vie de S. Genevihv

. preced6e dune notice sur toutes lee vies . . , Paris, 1825; M. B. Saintyves, Vie de S. Genevitvs .. , ib. 1846; C. Lefeuve, Hist. de S. Genevihe, ib. 1861; Z. BtLe P6lerin de S. Genevitve, ib. 1868; P. F6ret, L'Abbaye de S. Geuviwe et la conprfqation de France, precedh de la vie . . , 2 vols., ib. 1883; Vidieu, Sainte Gsnenitve, ib. 1883; DCB, ii. 632-39.

2. The early life is by ReM de Ceritiere, L'Innocence rerennue, ou vie de S. Genevi~ve de Brabant, Paris, 1647. Consult: H. Sauerborn, Geschichte der PfalsprBJtn Genovela, Regensburg, 1856: J. Zacher, Die Historic von der Plal.egrgha Genonefa, Königsberg, 1860; B: SeuHert, Die L4vande von der Pfalvrdhn Genovela, Würzburg, 1877; B. Gals, P/alsyrdhn Genovela in der deutedun Diehtung, Leipsic. 1897; KL, v. 297-301.