Litany to St. Germaine Cousin de Pibrac
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who loved solitude. Pray for us.
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who loved the mountains. Pray for us.
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who led you every day in solitude to speak to your heart. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom every morning at sunrise, the Angels descended in the form of a garland, and which already made your crown. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you to whom the Angels came down every morning to console you. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, for whom the Blessed Virgin came down every morning and wiped your tears, and brought the fragrances of the Lord into her heart. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the Angels came in procession. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who loved solitude. Pray for us.
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who loved the mountains. Pray for us.
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who led you every day in solitude to speak to your heart. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom every morning at sunrise, the Angels descended in the form of a garland, and which already made your crown. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you to whom the Angels came down every morning to console you. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, for whom the Blessed Virgin came down every morning and wiped your tears, and brought the fragrances of the Lord into her heart. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the Angels came in procession. Pray for us
O sweet
and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the Angels
descended every day in the midst of your solitude and made your soul
mature for Heaven. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who love the humble and the little ones. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the Virgin Mary, mother of the Incarnate Word, brought down every day and placed in your heart the graces and the perfumes of the Lord. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the birds and the white doves of Heaven descended every day, and sang: “Holy, Holy, Holy the God of hosts.” They were already inviting you to the wedding of the Lamb. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the Virgin Mary descended morning and evening, three times a day, and when you were on your knees in the middle of your meadows, eyes bathed in tears, the Virgin Mary carried them to the Lord. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who walked in the brambles and thorns, which soon changed into flowers. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who sowed in your steps graces and
perfumes of the Lord. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who walked in the footsteps of the Lord following on the mountain of Olives. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who walked in the footsteps of the Lord the next to Golgotha. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who were walking in the bloody steps of your Bridegroom, in the streets of Jerusalem. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who have been slandered, persecuted, because your dear Spouse allowed it. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who deprived yourself of what was necessary and who every day directed your steps towards the solitude of a poor man lying on the terrace, and this poor man was Jesus Christ. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the Lord asked what was the happiest day of your life, and you answered that it was the day of First Communion which always lasts. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, who said every day, “My father and my mother abandoned me, but God took me in.” Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the Lord said: “The rains have dissipated, the sad frost has passed, the stormy days are no more, rise up, and come to Me, my well beloved, and I will crown you.” Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who cried every day with your eyes raised to Heaven. “My Lord not a crown of flowers, but of thorns.” Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who was sweeter than your lambs and purer than the water of fountains. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, who comforted and strengthened you in your trials and your fatigue, because your soul was already the sweet seed of Heaven. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you whose Prayer will be published one day by the Holy Pontiff and the Bishop, since Jesus Christ your dear Spouse allows it. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who will help us in temptations, in evils, in afflictions, in pains, in sorrows. Jesus Christ your dear Spouse wants us to honor you and that we invoke you. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who love the humble and the little ones. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the Virgin Mary, mother of the Incarnate Word, brought down every day and placed in your heart the graces and the perfumes of the Lord. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the birds and the white doves of Heaven descended every day, and sang: “Holy, Holy, Holy the God of hosts.” They were already inviting you to the wedding of the Lamb. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the Virgin Mary descended morning and evening, three times a day, and when you were on your knees in the middle of your meadows, eyes bathed in tears, the Virgin Mary carried them to the Lord. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who walked in the brambles and thorns, which soon changed into flowers. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who sowed in your steps graces and
perfumes of the Lord. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who walked in the footsteps of the Lord following on the mountain of Olives. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who walked in the footsteps of the Lord the next to Golgotha. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who were walking in the bloody steps of your Bridegroom, in the streets of Jerusalem. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who have been slandered, persecuted, because your dear Spouse allowed it. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who deprived yourself of what was necessary and who every day directed your steps towards the solitude of a poor man lying on the terrace, and this poor man was Jesus Christ. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the Lord asked what was the happiest day of your life, and you answered that it was the day of First Communion which always lasts. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, who said every day, “My father and my mother abandoned me, but God took me in.” Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom the Lord said: “The rains have dissipated, the sad frost has passed, the stormy days are no more, rise up, and come to Me, my well beloved, and I will crown you.” Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who cried every day with your eyes raised to Heaven. “My Lord not a crown of flowers, but of thorns.” Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who was sweeter than your lambs and purer than the water of fountains. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, who comforted and strengthened you in your trials and your fatigue, because your soul was already the sweet seed of Heaven. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you whose Prayer will be published one day by the Holy Pontiff and the Bishop, since Jesus Christ your dear Spouse allows it. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who will help us in temptations, in evils, in afflictions, in pains, in sorrows. Jesus Christ your dear Spouse wants us to honor you and that we invoke you. Pray for us
O sweet
and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, you who will help us
together with blessed Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart in between.
Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, your dear Spouse does not allow you to be a withered flower, but a new flower. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, who wants your devotion to be published by everyone, since Jesus Christ your dear Spouse allows it. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, keep us from danger, shelter us from thunderstorms. Pray for us
O my little Germaine, my sister in Jesus Christ, return to sweet solitude, return to the bliss of the Lord that He has prepared for you, and one day call us, my little Germaine, to also enjoy, my little Germaine, the happiness that the Lord has prepared for you. That we in our sorrows and our afflictions, in our maladies, may one day enjoy the happiness that you enjoy. May we say one day and say eternally: “all yours” O Lord. Amen.
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, your dear Spouse does not allow you to be a withered flower, but a new flower. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, who wants your devotion to be published by everyone, since Jesus Christ your dear Spouse allows it. Pray for us
O sweet and blessed Germaine spouse of Jesus Christ, keep us from danger, shelter us from thunderstorms. Pray for us
O my little Germaine, my sister in Jesus Christ, return to sweet solitude, return to the bliss of the Lord that He has prepared for you, and one day call us, my little Germaine, to also enjoy, my little Germaine, the happiness that the Lord has prepared for you. That we in our sorrows and our afflictions, in our maladies, may one day enjoy the happiness that you enjoy. May we say one day and say eternally: “all yours” O Lord. Amen.
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Biography of
St. Germaine Cousin – 'Heaven's Cinderella'
Germaine was
born to simple humble peasants at Pibrac, town 13 km from Toulouse,
France.
From the
beginning, her life was already marked out as one of suffering. She
was born with her right hand deformed and was a weak an ill child,
and, while yet an infant, her loving mother died.
Her father
remarried, but the new bride he chose was every inch the proverbial
cruel stepmother who was disgusted by Germaine's weakness and
deformity, using this to torment the child at every occasion.
Her father must have been a blind, or a
very weak character not to notice the treatment his daughter received
from her hands.
Germaine learned to crawl as a baby
simply to get the dog's dish- she was given so little food by her
stepmother. Her stepmother also left her in a drain while she tended
to the chickens, one time 'forgetting' her and leaving her there for
three days. One time her step mother even poured boiling water on
her legs.
While some biographies say she was born
with scrofula, others say Germaine came down with this illness
due to this mistreatment, which was a
type of tuberculosis that causes the glands of the neck to swell up.
So, Germaine was further disfigured due to this illness. Sores
began to appear on her neck and in her weakened condition to fell
prey to every disease that came along. Instead of showing pity, her
stepmother despised her all the more as this disease made her even
uglier in her eyes.
When children were born to the couple,
Germaine found no love among her siblings either, as the bad example
shown by their mother began to take effect. They too learned how to
torment and tease her, putting ashes in her food and pitch in her
clothes to ruin what little clothing she had. Their mother found
this very amusing.
Eventually, her stepmother grew
concerned about Germaine's illness, but not out of pity for Germaine.
She was afraid the rest of the children would catch it, so she
ordered Germaine to sleep in the barn. The only warmth Germaine had
on freezing nights in the winter were the wool of the sheep she slept
with. The only food she had were the bare scraps her stepmother
might remember on occasion to throw her way.
Rather than grow bitter with all this
harsh treatment, she turned to God, and became a saint.
No one expected her to have any use for
education so she was not sent to school and was entrusted with the
sheep, spending long days in the field. Instead of being lonely, she
found a friend in God. She only had knowledge of the basics of the
faith that she learned the catechism, and made a rosary by knotting
string. Her prayers were simple: "Dear God, please don't let me
be too hungry or too thirsty. Help me to please my mother. And help
me to please You." Out of that simple faith, grew a profound
holiness and a deep trust of God.
She was completely devoted to the Mass.
Every day, without fail, she would drive her shepherdess staff or her
distaff into the ground and leave the care of the sheep to her
guardian angel and go to Mass. The villagers wondered that the sheep
weren't attacked by the wolves in the woods when she left but God's
protection never failed her. One day when the rains had swollen the
river to flood stage, a villager saw the river part so that she could
cross to get to the church in time for Mass.
No matter how little Germaine had, she
shared it with others. Her scraps of food were given to beggars.
(And, as we see from the litany revealed to Marie-Julie Jahenny, one
of the beggars she helped turned out to be Jesus in disguise!) We also see from the litany revealed to Marie-Julie that St. Germain also suffered the Passion of Christ as a victim soul. Her
life of prayer became stories of God that entranced the village
children.
But most startling of all was the
forgiveness to showed to the woman who deserved her hatred.
Her stepmother, furious about the
stories of Germaine's holiness, waited only to catch her doing
something wrong. One cold winter day, after throwing out a beggar
that Germaine had let sleep in the barn, she caught Germaine carrying
something bundled up in her apron. Certain that Germaine had stolen
bread to feed the beggar, she began to chase and scream at the child.
As she began to beat her, Germaine opened her apron. Out fell bright
beautiful flowers that no one had expected to see for months. Where
had she found these fresh blossoms in the middle of the ice and snow?
There was only one answer and Germaine gave it herself, when she
handed a flower to her mother and said, "Please accept this
flower, Mother. God sends it to you in sign of his forgiveness."
As the whole village began to talk about
this holy child, even her stepmother began to soften her feelings
toward her. She even invited Germaine back to the house but Germaine
had become used to her straw bed and begged to be left where she was
and continued to sleep in it. There she was found dead at the age of
22, overcome by a life of suffering.
Her bound was found incorrupt and many
miracles are attributed to the intercession of St. Germaine.
She is the patroness of abandoned
people, abuse victims, the disabled; girls from rural areas, illness
those suffering impoverishment, loss of parents, patron of
shepherdesses; people suffering disfigurements, physical therapists.
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