She was declared a saint by Pope Pius IX over 250 years after her death. He said of Germaine: “She shone like a star not only in her native France but throughout the world wide Church.”


She was born in the village of Pibrac, in southern France near Toulouse where her father was an agricultural worker. Her mother died shortly after her birth. Her father married again and her step mother treated her even more unkindly, making her sleep in the stable or under the stairs. As soon as she was old enough she was sent to mind sheep. She never complained and gradually developed the practice of the presence of God to whom she would speak directly while she was out in the fields.


Despite her disability she worked hard. She often went to Mass and stories began to circulate that whenever she did so she could leave her sheep in the fields without them straying or being attacked by wolves, which were common in the region. The locals began to think that a saint was in their midst. She died at the age of 21, a victim of tuberculosis.

She was buried in the village church and many miraculous cures have been attributed to her down through the years. Her remains are still in the church and an annual pilgrimage to her shrine still takes place.