St. Faith
| Saint Faith | |
|---|---|
Depiction of St. Faith
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| Born | 3rd century Agen, Gallia Narbonensis, Western Roman Empire |
| Died |
c. 3rd–4th century Gallia Narbonensis |
| Venerated in |
Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion |
| Major shrine | Conques, Occitanie, France |
| Feast | 6 October |
| Attributes |
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| Patronage |
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Saint Faith or Saint Faith of Conques (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 even under torture. 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 persecution under Diocletian beginning in 303. She is listed as Sainte Foy, "Virgin and Martyr", in the martyrologies.
The center of her veneration 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.
A number of legends exist regarding Faith, and she was confused with the three legendary sisters known as Faith, Hope, and Charity. She is recorded in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum under October 6, but the date of her death is not given. A Passio, now lost, once existed, and appears in summarized form in the ninth-century martyrology of Florus of Lyon. Her legends portray her as a patron who could turn against those who only gave small donations to her church at Conques.
It is believed that Saint Faith, a young girl from Agen, was martyred at the end of third or beginning of the fourth century, in which she was tortured over a brazier. The first extant reference to the martyrdom of Faith exists in the late sixth-century manuscript copy of the martyrology of Jerome, who died in 420, in which her feast day is listed as 6 October. Faith's martyrdom was later recounted in the Passio in the mid-ninth-century.
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