The Conversion Of St. Genesius
By RAY CAVANAUGH
In both ancient and modern times, there have been “entertainers” who mock Christian beliefs. One of them, however, became a saint.
Genesius of Rome was a third-century pagan performer taking part in a blasphemous burlesque of a Christian Baptism, when suddenly he saw angels. By the time he stepped off the stage, he was a Christian forever. August 25 is his feast day.
Genesius had been a leading comedic actor on the Roman circuit. This was not necessarily a good thing. Unlike the high-minded dramas of Ancient Greece, theater in Ancient Rome often was treated as a joke. The stage tended to be a place for cheap comedy, blasphemy, and outright pornography.
In fact, the Church had been making quite an effort to convert actors, and thereby remove them from their obscene way of life. But Genesius had no need for such conversion. He had been a lifelong pagan who relished the opportunity to mock Christendom.
When he was given the opportunity to perform before the emperor Diocletian, Genesius envisioned a way to turn his mockery into career advancement. Even by the Christ-bashing early Roman emperor standards, Diocletian stood out for his anti-Christian hostility, and Genesius hoped that by starring in a farce which mocked Christianity he might ingratiate himself with Diocletian.
If the emperor enjoyed the farce enough, it might “win Genesius favor at the Imperial court, and could prove quite lucrative,” according to the website www.stgenesius.com.
On stage before the emperor, Genesius played the role of an invalid who was screaming for Baptism. Diocletian was having a blast. Then came the moment for Genesius to receive his mock baptism.
This time, however, things were different. Genesius had a genuine conversion on stage. According to Michael Freze’s book Patron Saints, Genesius saw a vision of an angel who not only “showed him his sins in a heavenly book” but also “wiped clean” these sins, indicating that Genesius, through his moment of sincere conversion, had been forgiven for his life of blasphemy.
Diocletian had come to enjoy a blasphemous skit; he was in no mood to witness a genuine Christian conversion. When it became evident that Genesius was no longer acting, the performance was stopped immediately, and the new convert was arrested.
Some accounts hold that Genesius went so far as to attempt to convert Diocletian. Whether or not that detail is true, Diocletian was incensed that this spontaneous Christian would display such disrespect to the Roman gods. Genesius was handed over to the Roman prefect Plautian.
Plautian was not a good guy to know. He greeted Genesius with a pair of iron hooks, for the purpose of lacerating flesh. The actor also was beaten with rods and burned with torches. Through the ordeal, he refused to renounce his new religion.
Genesius eventually was beheaded, probably a merciful act, given the preceding tortures. Though he never was baptized (the blasphemous mock baptisms he used to perform do not count) in the Church, he is considered “baptized by blood,” owing to his violent martyrdom.
About a decade subsequent to the demise of Genesius, Diocletian was no longer in charge, and the acting emperor, Constantine, passed the Edict of Milan, which decriminalized Christian worship. The ensuing sea change in the way the Roman Empire dealt with Christianity is sometimes referred to as the “Constantinian shift.”
Many centuries later, the drama of Genesius would inspire creative artists. In the 1600s, the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega wrote Lo Fingido Verdadero (which translates to “Acting Is Believing”), and the French playwright Jean Rotrou wrote Le Veritable Saint Genest (“The True Saint Genesius”). Three centuries later, in 1933, another French playwright, Henri Ghéon, wrote The Comedian, based on Genesius.
The martyrdom of Genesius also has been adapted to opera by Austrian composer Felix Weingartner and German composer Carl Loewe.
Despite such longstanding inspiration, some have contended that Genesius never actually existed. Not everyone is so doubtful, though. Believers tend to point out that there was devotion to Genesius’ memory soon after he died, which would suggest that an actual person had existed.
Whoever he actually was in history, the impact of his legacy survives to this day. County Louth in Ireland is home to the Fraternity of St. Genesius. Manhattan has a shrine to St. Genesius. Sydney, Australia, has a Genesian Theatre. So does Reading, Pa.
Established in 1971, the Genesius Theatre in Reading was named by one Jane Simmon Miller, “a very gutsy woman who dared to claim St. Genesius as her own,” according to Brian Fichthorn, the theater’s board president.
Fichthorn added that, even though the theater has no religious affiliation, “every actor gets a St. Genesius medal on opening night,” and that “some of those who have gone on to work professionally still wear their medals when performing.”
Genesius is looked to not only as a patron saint of actors, but also of clowns, comedians, and torture victims. Quite a mix indeed.
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(Ray Cavanaugh has written for such publications as Celtic Life, History Today, and New Oxford Review, as well as for The Wanderer.)
