11 Facts About Germaine Cousin

Germaine Cousin, Germana Cousin, Germaine of Pibrac, or Germana, was a French saint.

Germaine Cousin was gifted with a marvelous sense of the presence of God and of spiritual things, so that her lonely life became to her a source of light and blessing.

Germaine Cousin assisted daily at the Holy Sacrifice; when the bell rang, she fixed her sheep-hook or distaff in the ground, and left her flocks to the care of Providence while she heard Mass.

Germaine Cousin is said to have practiced many austerities as reparation for the sacrileges perpetrated by heretics in the neighboring churches.

Germaine Cousin frequented the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist, and it was observed that her piety increased on the approach of every feast of the Virgin Mary.

Germaine Cousin offered the flowers to her stepmother as a sign of forgiveness.

Germaine Cousin's remains were buried in the parish church of Pibrac in front of the pulpit.

In 1644, when the grave was opened to receive one of her relatives, the body of Germaine Cousin was discovered fresh and perfectly preserved.

The private veneration of Germaine Cousin had continued from the original finding of the body in 1644, supported and encouraged by numerous cures and miracles.

Germaine Cousin proclaimed her a saint on 29 June 1867, the day on which a vast assembly of prelates gathered in Rome to mark the 18th centenary of the martyrdom of Peter the Apostle, and he congratulated the archbishop of Toulouse, Florian Desprez, and his diocese for giving the church a saint "so powerful, so kind, and so dear to its heart".

Germaine Cousin is represented in art with a shepherd's crook or with a distaff; with a watchdog, or a sheep; or with flowers in her apron.