GENESIUS, Saint, Martyr. - Patron of theater artists. The hagiographic and martyrological sources record two martyrs of this name: one at Arles (feast on August 25); the other at Rome (feast on August 24 or also 25), venerated on the Via Tiburtina, near the cemetery of St. Hippolytus, as is gathered from the Itineraries, that is, from the Notitia ecclesiarum and the De locis, where there existed a small church restored by Gregory III (731-41: Lib. Pont., I, p. 419).
It is commonly believed today that this is a single historical figure, namely the martyr of Arles, who was also venerated at Rome and in Italy, as in Gaul and in Spain; the profession of mime and the spectacular conversion of the Roman G. belong more to legend than to history. It is useful, however, to recall that such an account, placed by Delehaye (Les légendes hagiographiques, 3rd ed., Brussels 1927, pp. 113-14) among the imaginary romances, is earlier than the 6th century, since the Calendar of Carthage (beginning of the 6th century) contains under August 24 this singular notice: - Sancti Genesi mimi -. According to the aforementioned legend the conversion of G. would have occurred while he was parodying on the stage of the theater the ceremonies of Holy Baptism. Diocletian would have had him cruelly tortured and beheaded on August 25. Similar accounts are read for converted mimes: Gelasius of Heliopolis (February 27), Ardalion (April 14) and Porphyry (September 15).
For St. G. of Arles we are better informed: his brief Passio, written at the beginning of the 5th century by a Paulinus who could also be the bishop of Nola, is a trustworthy document albeit with some embellishment (S. Cavallin attributes the Passio to the 6th century and the Sermo no. 3306 of the BHL to St. Hilary of Arles, 429-49; for now such datings are hypothetical). G., a stenographer, at the outbreak of a persecution, not further determined, throws the wax tablets at the feet of the judge and flees. Still a catechumen, he hoped to obtain Baptism, but surprised near the Rhone by the police, to save himself he throws himself into the river and reaches the opposite bank by swimming; captured immediately he is put to the sword on the spot. At Arles on the place of burial a basilica arose as a goal of pilgrimages (there was also a chapel on the right bank of the Rhone, the place of martyrdom; the Jeronymian Martyrology records under December 16 the dedication in Arles of a basilica and an altar to St. G.), and his cult soon had wide diffusion. Prudentius (Peristephanos, IV, 35) and Venantius Fortunatus (Carm., VIII, 3, 157) sing of him with enthusiasm. It seems that the head of G. should be recognized in certain sarcophagi (cf. Wilpert, Sarcofagi, I, pp. 46, 77 and plates 37, 5; 39, 2; 55, 3; 140, 4 and 5).