Faith
Life and witness
At Agen, in France, the birthday of St. Faith, virgin and martyr, by whose example blessed Caprasius, encouraged to martyrdom, happily accomplished his agony.
The Lives Of The Saints: Volume 11, October, Pt. 1 · S. FAITH, V.M.
S. FAITH, V.M.
(about a.d. 287.)
[Roman Martyrology. Sarum, York, Hereford, and Anglican Re- formed Kalendars ; some copies of the Martyrology of Jerome, Usuar dus, Wandelbert, Notker, Ado, &c. Authority The Acts, not trust- worthy. The Acts of SS. Caprais and Faith vary in several particulars from those of S. Faith alone. All versions of the Acts are too late to be relied upon.]
ACIANUS, governor of Spain under Diocletian and Maximian, was at one time at Agen, in Aquitania, and hearing that a certain noble dam- sel, named Faith, living in Agen, was a Christian, he summoned her before his tribunal and ordered her to renounce the faith of the Crucified. “ From a child,” an- swered the maiden, “ I have served the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart, and have confessed his name.”
Dacian produced the ordinary arguments, tried persuasion and threats in vain, and then sentenced her to be stretched
4 — — *
Digitized by
oct &] S- Cumine. 133
over a fire on a brazen grate with her hands and feet tied to four posts. She endured the agony with great fortitude. The executioners raked up the coals under her and poured on fat, and the blaze rushing up enveloped her. According to one version of the Acts, a heavy fall of snow veiled her body as it lay on the burning bed, and the shower only ceased when she was dead. Many other Christians, moved by her heroism, surrendered themselves and were executed with the sword.
The arm of S. Faith was anciently shown at Glastonbury. The crypt of S. Paul’s Cathedral, London, is dedicated to S. Faith, and was at one time enriched with some of her relics. Her head is shown at Agen.
In art S. Faith is represented as a maiden with a palm- branch and a grate.
Biographical overview
Saint Faith, Saint Faith of Conques or Saint Faith of Agen (Latin: Sancta Fides; French: Sainte Foy; Spanish: Santa Fe) is a saint who is said to have been a girl or young woman of Agen in Aquitaine. Her legend recounts how she was arrested during persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire and refused to make pagan sacrifices. Saint Faith was tortured to death with a red-hot brazier. Her death is sometimes said to have occurred in the year 287 or 290, sometimes in the large-scale Diocletianic Persecution beginning in 303. She is listed as "Sancta Fides, Virgin and martyr", in the martyrologies. The center of her cult was transferred to the Abbey of Sainte-Foy, Conques, where her relics arrived in the ninth century, stolen from Agen by a monk from the Abbey nearby at Conques.
The Lives Of The Saints: Volume 11, October, Pt. 1 · S. FAITH, V.M.
(about a.d. 287.)
[Roman Martyrology. Sarum, York, Hereford, and Anglican Re- formed Kalendars ; some copies of the Martyrology of Jerome, Usuar dus, Wandelbert, Notker, Ado, &c. Authority The Acts, not trust- worthy. The Acts of SS. Caprais and Faith vary in several particulars from those of S. Faith alone. All versions of the Acts are too late to be relied upon.]
ACIANUS, governor of Spain under Diocletian and Maximian, was at one time at Agen, in Aquitania, and hearing that a certain noble dam- sel, named Faith, living in Agen, was a Christian, he summoned her before his tribunal and ordered her to renounce the faith of the Crucified. “ From a child,” an- swered the maiden, “ I have served the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart, and have confessed his name.”
Dacian produced the ordinary arguments, tried persuasion and threats in vain, and then sentenced her to be stretched
4 — — *
Digitized by
oct &] S- Cumine. 133
over a fire on a brazen grate with her hands and feet tied to four posts. She endured the agony with great fortitude. The executioners raked up the coals under her and poured on fat, and the blaze rushing up enveloped her. According to one version of the Acts, a heavy fall of snow veiled her body as it lay on the burning bed, and the shower only ceased when she was dead. Many other Christians, moved by her heroism, surrendered themselves and were executed with the sword.
The arm of S. Faith was anciently shown at Glastonbury. The crypt of S. Paul’s Cathedral, London, is dedicated to S. Faith, and was at one time enriched with some of her relics. Her head is shown at Agen.
In art S. Faith is represented as a maiden with a palm- branch and a grate.