Generosus

Saint Generosus, a venerable father, was a monk of Poitou in the 6th century and abbot of the monastery of Saint-⁠Jouin de Marnes. He is venerated as a saint in the Western Church.

Little is known of his life. He was of Roman origin, and the source does not make clear whether he came from Italy. He withdrew to Poitou as a monk at Saint-⁠Jouin de Marnes and became abbot there. Under his guidance lived the future Saint Paternus of Avranches, who left without the abbot's knowledge to live as a hermit in the forest in very great austerity. Generosus went to look for him, blessed him, and persuaded him to soften somewhat the rule he meant to impose on himself. Paternus then settled in the forest of Scissy near Coutances.

After his death the monastery founded a priory in his honor, perhaps around his tomb. There stands today the church of Saint-⁠Généroux, one of the oldest in Poitou, from the 10th century, remodeled in the 12th and restored in the 19th. He was commemorated locally on 16 July; in the diocese of Poitiers he is now commemorated on 13 November together with the other monk and hermit saints of Poitou.