The Book of Sainte Foy
Publication Year: 1995
The miracle stories surrounding Sainte Foy form one of the most complete sets of material relating to a medieval saint's cult and its practices. Pamela Sheingorn's superb translation from the Medieval Latin texts now makes this literature available in English. The Book of Sainte Foy recounts the virgin saint's martyrdom in the third century (Passio), the theft of her relics in the late ninth century by the monks of the monastery at Conques (Translatio), and her diverse miracles (Liber miraculorum); also included is a rendering of the Provençal Chanson de Sainte Foy, translated by Robert L. A. Clark.
The miracles distinguish Sainte Foy as an unusual and highly individualistic child saint displaying a fondness for gold and pretty things, as well as a penchant for playing practical jokes on her worshippers. In his record of Sainte Foy, Bernard of Angers, the eleventh-century author of the first parts of the Liber miraculorum, emphasized the saint's "unheard of" miracles, such as replacing missing body parts and bringing dead animals back to life.
The introduction to the volume situates Sainte Foy in the history in the history of hagiography and places the saint and her monastery in the social context of the high Middle Ages. Sheingorn also evokes the rugged landscape of south central France, the picturesque village of Conques on the pilgrimage road, and, most important, the golden, jewel-encrusted reliquary statue that medieval believers saw as the embodiment of Sainte Foy's miracle-working power. In no other book will readers enjoy such a comprehensive portrait of Sainte Foy and the culture that nurtured her.
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
Cover
Title Page, Copyright Page, Dedication Page
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pp. i-v
Contents
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pp. vii-
Figures
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pp. ix-
Preface
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pp. xi-xiii
The golden majesty of Sainte Foy has fascinated me ever since Professor Marilyn Stokstad showed a slide of her reliquary-statue in my first art history class. As I learned more about relationships among art, liturgy, drama, and hagiography in graduate school and later, my thoughts often returned to a figure that seemed to stand at the intersection of so many strands of medieval culture.
Introduction
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pp. 1-31
As a compilation of texts that make up the dossier of a saint, this book resembles what medieval people would call a libellus, a "little book" about one saint. And it is appropriate that this should be so, for almost all the texts translated in this book appeared in manuscripts solely concerned with Sainte Foy (see Figure 1). These manuscripts exemplify a type not so well known as the great compilations...
Passio: The Passion of Sainte Foy
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pp. 33-38
The sixth of October, the Passion of Sainte Foy, virgin and martyr.� When it comes to relating the merit-filled Passions of the great and illustrious saints Caprais� and Foy, words do not suffice to lavish on them the praises they deserve. Out of envy for Christian religion, antiquity wished to remain silent about their deeds and miracles rather than to leave behind any...
Liber miraculorum sancte Fidis:The Book of Sainte Foy's Miracles
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pp. 39-261
The beginning of the book of miracles of holy and most blessed Foy, virgin and martyr, related by Bernard, a teacher,� master at the school of Angers. A letter to the lord Fulbert, bishop of Chartres. To the holiest and most learned of men, Fulbert, bishop of Chartres, Bernard, the least of teachers, sends a gift of supreme blessedness.� During the time when I was at Chartres, where I had the benefit of...
Translatio: The Translation of Sainte Foy, Virgin and Martyr, to the Conques Monastery
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pp. 263-274
The King of the Heavens is magnificent and eternal. Thus, before the beginning of the world the Father, Whose rule is absolute and Whose wisdom is indescribable, marvelously saw beforehand the end of all creatures along with with their beginning, although they did not yet exist. That is the way He chose those who were later going to be His own Christians. They were the ones who took up...
The Song of Sainte Foy: A prose translation from the Proven�al by Robert L. A. Clark�
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pp. 275-284
I. I heard a Latin book about the old times read under a pine.� I listened to it in its entirety, to the end. There was no meaning that it did not render clearly. It spoke of the father of King Licinius and of the lineage of Maximin.� These two tormented Christians just as a hunter does stags in the morning: they led them to prison and to death. They left them dead on...
Notes
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pp. 285-310
Bibliography
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pp. 311-318
Index
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pp. 319-329
University of Pennsylvania Press: MIDDLE AGES SERIES
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pp. 331-334
E-ISBN-13: 9780812200522
Print-ISBN-13: 9780812215120
Page Count: 344
Publication Year: 1995
Series Title: The Middle Ages Series
