St. Germaine Cousin

Saint Germaine Cousin (pronounced coo-zan) was the child of a poor farmer, born in 1579 at Pibrac, France, north of Toulouse. Her mother died when she was an infant. Her father remarried and her step family was very cruel to her. She was born with a deformed hand and had the disease of scrofula. Despite her misfortunes she shared her daily allowance of bread with the poor and practiced many austerities as reparation for the sacrileges perpetrated by heretics in the neighboring churches.

At age nine she became a shepherdess. She prayed the Rosary on "beads" she made of knotted string. Her piety increased on the approach of every feast of Our Lady. She gathered children of the village to teach them the catechism (using the Rosary) and to instill in them the love of Jesus and Mary. She attended daily Mass, leaving the sheep in the care of her guardian angel. The wolves never harmed the sheep while she was away.

She died in 1601 at the age of 22. She is a patron of victims of child abuse. Her Feast Day is June 15.