St. Germaine Cousin
Feast day: June 15
A simple, pious young girl, Germaine was born in Pibrac, France, in 1579. Her father was a farmer, and her mother died when she was an infant. She was born with a deformed right arm and hand, as well as the disease of scrofula. Her father remarried, and her stepmother treated her poorly, giving her scraps to eat and making her sleep in the stable. Germaine tended sheep and spent hours praying the Rosary. She attended Mass daily, leaving her sheep in the care of her guardian angel. She was ridiculed for her religious devotion until one day she opened her apron and beautiful flowers fell out. Germaine died at age 22. Years later, her body was found to be incorrupt. She was canonized in 1867. She is patron of child abuse victims, abandoned people, and people with disabilities.
Collect
O God, who gladden us each year with the feast day of St. Germaine Cousin,
grant, we pray, that we, who are called to honor her,
may also follow her example of holy living.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
