“…at Rome, St.
Genesius, martyr, who embraced the profession of actor while he was yet a
Pagan. One day he was deriding the
Christian mysteries in the theatre in the presence of the emperor Diocletian;
but by the inspiration of God he was suddenly converted to the faith and
baptized. By the command of the
emperor, he was forthwith most cruelly beaten with rods, then racked, and a
long time lacerated with iron hooks, and burned with fire-brands. As he remained firm in the faith of
Christ, and said: “There is no king besides Christ. Should you kill me a thousand times, you shall not be able
to take Him from my lips or my heart,” he was beheaded, and thus merited the
palm of Martyrdom.”
Actors have
never been considered virtuous people, perhaps because their vocation relies on
lying and fraud, i.e. they represent themselves to be what they are not. Even in
Rome, they were a despised class of foreigners and former slaves, and since
their performances could include [as it
does today] sexual acts onstage or off, it is no wonder that they were
barred from decent (and hypocritical) society. That they tended to be of the roving sort – bands of players
moving about the countryside – classed them with other vagabonds and tramps.
Father Alban Butler describes their milieu as “… the stage, the most infamous
school of vice and the passions, and the just abhorrence of the holy fathers of
the church, of all zealous pastors, and all sincere lovers of virtue.” [That
was in 1866, and Hollywood and all its Babylonish women hadn’t even been
thought of.]
Father Butler
continues: “Among other entertainments prepared for him [Emperor Diocletian],
those of the stage were not neglected…one of the players took it into his head
to represent, in a ludicrous manner, the ceremonies of the Christian baptism,
which could not fail to divert the assembly, who held this religion, and its mysteries, in the utmost contempt and
derision.” [Sound familiar?] According to the story, Genesius, who
had informed himself of the Christian rites in order to more effectively deride
them on stage, acted the part of a mortally ill man wanting baptism; he and the
other actors went through the entire ceremony, up to and including arresting
the new “Christian” and hauling him before the emperor sitting in the audience,
who was prepared to play his part in the comedy and condemn the new Christian
to untold torments [audience
participation is nothing new.]
But something
happened to Genesius when he jestingly spoke his lines, “I am resolved to die a
Christian, that God may receive me on this day of my death, as one who seeks
his salvation from flying from idolatry and superstition.” God took him at his word, and Genesius
went through the ‘baptism’ with all the sincerity of a new convert before a
true priest. When he stood before
Diocletian, the words were not from the script but from his heart, “…Wherefore,
I advise you, O great and mighty emperor, and all ye people here present, who
have ridiculed these mysteries, to believe, with me, that Jesus Christ is true
Lord; that He is the light and the truth; and that it is through Him you may
obtain the forgiveness of your sins.”
People don’t
like it when you deviate from the script.
Nor, when they are out for an evening’s entertainment, do they want to
be preached at. The emperor
returned to the script and condemned the new Christian to untold torments. The audience was amused.
A 9th
century English martyrology says of him: “… he was first a certain emperor’s mima, that is jester, and sang loose
songs before him and danced obscene dances. At last he began to read the divine scriptures and received
baptism. When the emperor tried by
threats to convert him again to paganism, he said, ‘As I received baptism, I
saw that God’s angel stood there and had in writing all the sins I ever
committed before; he blotted them all out and extinguished them in the bath of
baptism.’ For this, the emperor
ordered him to be beheaded.” And
so he was, circa 303 AD.
He is the
patron, of course, of actors, clowns, comedians, dancers, entertainers, and of
all who make their livings by stage-craft. There is a Confraternity of St. Genesius devoted to praying
for all those in the theatrical arts (and
if the scandal sheets are correct, there is a lot of prayer needed!) By association, he is a patron of
prostitutes, since actresses and prostitution were pretty much synonymous.
He is also the
patron of lawyers and barristers, perhaps because of their courtroom theatrics,
or perhaps conflating him with Saint Genesius of Arles, a notary of that city,
who “refusing to record the impious edicts by which Christians were commanded
to be punished, threw away his tablets publicly, and declared himself a
Christian. He was seized and
beheaded, and thus attained to the glory of martyrdom through baptism in his
blood.” His feast is also today.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Artwork:
Comic Mask, Roman mosaic,
Indianapolis Museum of Art
Giovanni Battista Poza,
c1591. Baptism of St. Genesius (detail).
Church of Santa Susanna, Rome.
