Germanus, St

Germanus, St of Paris, was born at Autun, A.D. 496; was made deacon 533, presbyter 536, and bisbop of Paris 555. He was noted for his strict asceticism, for his great charity to the poor, and especially for his :eal in the purchase and redemption of slaves. He died in 576. There is extant a letter of his to queen Brunehild (Concil. tom. 5). He was buried in St. Vincent's church, which was burnt by the Normans in 881, and reconstructed in 1163, under the name of St. Germain des Pras. The monks of St. Germain, of the Benedictine rule, have their abbey here. Bouillart, Benedictine of St. Maur, published in 1724 a Histoire de l'abbaye de St. Germain, in which he gives a life of Germanus. The aristocratic quarter of St. Germain in Paris is named from the abbey and church. — Migne; Baillet, Vies des Saints, May 28; Ceillier, Asuteurs Saceri (Paris, 1862), 11:306.