Her father soon remarried. The stepmother treated her harshly, refusing to let her sleep in the house. Germaine slept on a mattress of hay in the stable or in the cupboard under the stairs. She was underfed being given only scraps of food and forbidden to play with her stepsiblings.
At an early age, Germaine was given the chore of caring for the family sheep. While caring for the sheep, Germaine developed a relationship with God, attending Mass whenever possible. When she heard the nearby church bells ring, she entrusted the sheep to her guardian angel so that she could receive communion. The sheep were always found safe on her return.
One day in the winter the village people saw the stepmother pursuing Germaine and accusing her of stealing bread and concealing it in her apron. She threatened to hit her with a stick and Germaine opened her apron. Summer flowers fell to the ground. After this incident the parents decided she had been touched by God and invited her to live in the house. Germaine, however, refused. She preferred to go on living as she had been.
One morning in 1601 she was found dead in the cupboard under the stairs at the age of 21. After her death her body became very beautiful. Word spread and many people came to see the change. She was buried in the church of Pibrac. Forty-three years later when a relative had died and was to be buried, her body was exhumed and found to be incorrupt and flexible.
St. Germaine was canonized on June 29, 1867, by Pope Pius IX.