Genesius of Rome

Saint Genesius of Rome
Statue of St. Genesius with mask and baptismal font in in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany
Actor & martyr
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrine	Church of Santa Susanna, Rome, Italy
Feast	August 25
Patronage	actors, clowns, comedians, comics, converts, dancers, musicians, stenographers, printers, lawyers, epileptics, thieves, torture victims

Genesius of Rome is a legendary Christian saint, once a comedian and actor who had performed in plays that mocked Christianity. According to legend, while performing in a play that made fun of baptism, he had an experience on stage that converted him. He proclaimed his new belief, and he steadfastly refused to renounce it, even when the emperor Diocletian ordered him to do so.

Genesius is considered the patron saint of actors, lawyers, barristers, clowns, comedians, converts, dancers, people with epilepsy, musicians, printers, stenographers, and victims of torture. His feast day is August 25.

One day Genesius, leader of a theatrical troupe in Rome, was performing before the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Intending to expose Christian religious rites to ridicule by his audience, he pretended to receive the Sacrament of Baptism.

As the play continued, however, Genesius suddenly lay on the stage as if very ill. Two performers asked what was wrong. Genesius said he felt as if a weight was on his chest and he wanted removed. Two actors, dressed as a priest and exorcist, were called on stage. He said he had had a vision of angels bearing a book listing all of his sins. The "priest" asked, "My child, why did you send for me?" Genesius said he could still see angels and asked to be baptized right there. The "priest" did so. Enraged, Diocletian had him arrested and sent to Plautia, prefect of the praetorium, to be tortured. Despite his agonies, Genesius persisted in his faith, and he was finally ordered to be beheaded.

Genesius is said to have been buried in the Cemetery of St. Hippolytus on the Via Tiburtina. His relics are claimed to be kept in San Giovanni della Pigna, Santa Susanna di Termini, and the chapel of St. Lawrence. His legend was dramatized in the fifteenth century. It was embodied in later in the oratorio "Polus Atella" of Löwe, and more recently in a play by Weingartner. The accuracy of the Acts, dating from the seventh century, is very questionable, though it was defended by Tillemont (Mémoires, IV s. v. Genesius). Nevertheless, Gesenius was venerated at Rome as early as the Fourth Century. A church was built in his honor, and it was repaired and beautified by Pope Gregory III in 741. A gold glass portrait of him dating to the Fourth Century also exists.