Feastday: August 25
Patron: of actors
Creation and Redemption are part of a grand masterpiece of love initiated by God, the Divine Artist. He created the world out of love, in love and for love. All who dwell upon it can become a manifestation of His Beauty - by responding to His invitations of grace.
There is an integral connection between beauty and the Christian vocation to manifest the presence of the living God in this world. Beauty is a path to encountering the God who is its source and summit.
To be fully Christian is to be fully human, and fully alive. We are paintbrushes in the hand of God the Divine Artist, and through us He intends to manifest his beauty.
In Saint John Paul's "Letter to Artists" he referred to all artists as "Images of the Creator." He wrote, "to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art. Art must make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God."
The late Pope explained, "Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savor life and to dream of the future. That is why the beauty of created things can never fully satisfy. It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God, which a lover of beauty like Saint Augustine could express in incomparable terms: "Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you!" (John Paul II)
He called Christian artists to create "epiphanies of beauty" and encouraged the flourishing of all the arts in a great renewal of humanity for our age. His letter began with these words from the Book of Genesis: "God saw all that He had made, and it was very good (Genesis 1:31)." It still is. Included among artists are actors and playwrights.
In the early years of the first Christian Millennium, the theatre was debased and inhuman because human culture had become debased. Even though Christians desired to participate in the culture, they often avoided the theatre because of this.
That is one of the reasons why the story of the actor and martyr named St. Genesius is so unique and inspiring.
It is also very timely.
We live in an age when the theatre is again becoming debased. As our culture moves away from God, it is losing an understanding of the dignity of the human person. When a culture rejects God, it rejects beauty.
That is why we need contemporary Christian artists to create new "epiphanies of beauty" for a new missionary age. The story of St. Genesius needs to be re-told in this hour. The witness of his martyrdom, along with his intercession, can help inspire new Christian playwrights, actors and artists.
What we know about St. Genesius comes from an ancient Christian tradition which was affirmed in a seventh century document called the Acts of the Martyrs which tells his story.
During the brutal persecution of Christians under the evil emperor Diocletian in the third and fourth centuries, a pagan man named Genesius wrote a play mocking Christianity.
The emperor Diocletian traveled to Rome in the year 303 to celebrate twenty years as an emperor. Genesius knew of the emperors hatred of Christianity and thought he could advance himself by writing and performing in a play which mocked the Christian faith which Diocletian was hell bent on destroying.
Christian tradition tells us that Genesius decided that the best way to learn this Christian way in order to write such a satirical play and act in it, was to deceive members of the Christian community into believing that he wanted to enter the catechumenate and prepare for Baptism.
He was successful. They accepted him into the catechumenate.
It was during the months of instruction in preparation for Baptism that Genesius decided to make the Christian claims that Baptism washed away sin and brought the baptized into a new life in Jesus Christ the subject of his play.
He planned to mock the claim on stage, in front of Diocletian! However, during the period of instruction in the Christian Way, he found himself increasingly drawn to the Savior whom the Christians proclaimed and became conflicted.
He finally left the catechumenate and rejected the claims of Christianity.
He then decided to proceed with his blasphemous plan to write a play which was a parody of Christianity and perform it in front of the Emperor. He wanted to curry favor with this evil emperor and enhance his standing in the empire.
When the time came for the performance of the play, before the emperor, Genesius appeared on stage, playing a bedridden sick man who cried out to be Baptized. An actor playing a Christian priest came to baptize the sick man. The entire play was supposed to mock the Savior Jesus Christ and the Christian way of life.
But, the Lord had other plans.
As the actor playing the Christian priest poured water over the head of Genesius, the grace of God fell upon him. He encountered the Risen Jesus Christ and saw the truth of the Christian faith. According to the Acts, Genesius began to give testimony to Jesus Christ in front of all who were watching and affirmed the Christian faith. He boldly called on Diocletian to give his life to Jesus Christ in these words:
I came here today to please an earthly Emperor but what I have done is to please a heavenly King. I came here to give you laughter, but what I have done is to give joy to God and his angels. From this moment on, believe me, I will never mock these great mysteries again. I now know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God, the Light, the Truth and the Mercy of all who have received his gift of baptism. O great Emperor, believe in these mysteries! I will teach you, and you will know the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God."
Diocletian became enraged. He had this holy, newly baptized Christian, tortured and beheaded when he refused to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. Genesius is the Patron Saint of Actors. St. Genesius, pray for us!
Saint Genesius of Arles (in French Saint Genès) was a notary martyred under Maximianus in 303 or 308. His Feast day is celebrated on August 25. He is honoured as the patron saint of notaries and secretaries, and invoked against chilblains and scurf. He is also known as Genesius of Rome, patron saint of actors, comedians, and entertainers.
Acts
The Acts (Acta Santorum, Aug., V, 123, and Thierry Ruinart, 559), attributed to St. Paulinus of Nola, state: "Genesius, native of Arles, at first a soldier became known for his proficiency in writing, and was made secretary to the magistrate of Arles. While performing the duties of his office the decree of persecution against the Christians was read in his presence. Outraged in his ideas of justice, the young catechumen cast his tablets at the feet of the magistrate and fled. He was captured and executed, and thus received baptism in his own blood."
His veneration must be very old, as his name is found in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum. A church and altar dedicated to him at Arles were known in the 4th century. A 5th-century vita in the form of a sermon, Sermo de vita Genesii, is sometimes attributed to Hilary of Arles; in contrast to the hagiographical genre that followed, it minimizes the miraculous.
According to Serafino Prete, the spread and popularity of Genesius' cult in other cities of Gaul and beyond gave rise to the multiplication and "localization" of his cult, so that the saints Genesius of Alvernia, Genesius of Béziers, Genesius of Rome, Genesius of Cordoba and Genesius Sciarensis (also known as Ginés de la Jara) are actually variations on the same saint and saint's cult.
St. Genesius (Gennys) died as a martyr c. 303 AD. He is mentioned in several sources as having been martyred under the persecutions of Maximian and Diocletian. Genesius was a legal clerk, and on one occasion was so upset by the edict of persecution that he heard that he left his position. He went in search of baptism, but was not trusted by the bishop he found, who instead advised him that martyrdom was at least as good in the eyes of God. Genesius was eventually beheaded.
The cult of Genesius spread quickly from Arles into other parts of the empire, including Rome, where a titular church was built. It was then assumed that he was a Roman martyr: hence "Genesius of Rome". Later on, even more confusion helped to create an entirely fictional legend, in which he was a comedian who had converted to Christianity half-way through performing an anti-Christian satire, and was then beheaded. This latter story began in the 6th century at the latest.
The feast day of Genesius is the 25th of August; the dedication of his basilica at Arles on the 16th of December.
Cult in Spain
Some scholars believe that the Spanish saint known as Ginés de la Jara may be identical with Genesius of Arles, in Spanish known as San Ginés de Arlés. Ginés' feast day is identical to that of Genesius of Arles, a connection that some scholars consider as proof that they are identical. A legend that appears in a manuscript dating from 1243, Liber Sancti Iacobi, states that the martyr of Arles was buried at Arles but that his head was transported miraculously "in the hands of angels" to Cartagena. This may represent an attempt to explain the existence of the cult of the same saint in two separate locations.
