- This event has passed.
St Genesius
August 25
Martyr. 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, Genesius had an experience on stage that converted him. He proclaimed his new belief, and steadfastly refused to renounce it, even when the emperor Diocletian ordered him to do so. He was finally beheaded.
Genesius was venerated at Rome as early as the 4th century. A church was built in his honour, and repaired by Pope Gregory III in 741. A gold glass portrait of him dating to the 4th century also exists.
Genesius is the patron saint of actors, and many actors’ organisations including the Catholic Association of Performing Arts. See: www.catholicassociationofperformingarts.org.uk/
He is also a patron saint of lawyers, barristers, clowns, comedians, converts, dancers, people with epilepsy, musicians, printers, stenographers, and victims of torture.
Read more about him here: www.stgenesius.com/genesiusofrome.html