Faith (Foy) (3rd century?), virgin, martyr. The Martyrology of Jerome records her death at Agen in Gaul, so it is likely that she really existed. But her Legend is quite unhistorical; she was further confused with the mythical sisters Faith, Hope, and Charity and their mother Sophia. The diffusion of her cult in the Middle Ages was remarkable. Her body was translated to Conques, where the justly famous reliquary from the 10th century survives, a masterpiece of barbaric Dark Age art. Here both Crusaders and pilgrims to the shrine of St. James at Compostela invoked her intercession and took back the memory of her to their own countries. In many districts of France are found place-names and church dedications to Sainte Foy. Her fame passed not only to Italy and Spain, but also eventually to South America, especially Bogotá. In England a shrine of the saint was set up at Horsham St. Faith, near Norwich, and fifteen Black Monk abbeys celebrated her feast, which passed into the Sarum Missal. Chapels were dedicated to her in Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's cathedral; no fewer than twenty-three ancient English churches also were consecrated in her name.
Her Acts make her a young girl who was put to death by being roasted on a brazen bed and then beheaded. This inspired numerous artistic representations of her, in which a sword or a bundle of rods is her emblem. She was not so much a healing saint as one whose protection was invoked by soldiers, prisoners, and pilgrims. Feast: 6 October; translation, 14 January.
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- AA.SS. Oct. III (1770), 263–329; Réau, i. 513–16; A. Fabre, La chanson de sainte Foy de Conques (1940); K. Ashley and P. Sheingom, Writing Faith (1999): see Anal. Boll. 118 (2000). 455–6. Miracles published by L. Robertini (1994). Bibl. SS., v.511–16
