Page 53 - Foy

SAINT FOY

286 A.D. Agen and Conques, France

H er name was FIDES which, in the French language means Faith.
She was only twelve years old the day the soldiers came to her
village. They tortured her and later killed her but what she did
that day, and her name, will be remembered for as long as
history is read by man.

It was in the year 286AD. MAXIMIAN {MARCUS AURELIUS VALERIUS
MAXIMIANUS HERCULIUS} was the emperor of Rome. In addition to the
chaos and terror he inflicted on all those in the kingdom who claimed
to be Christians, this mad-man decreed that all Roman subjects were
to worship him, for HE WAS A GOD.

One fateful day in the little town of Agen in the Roman province of
Aquitania in France, the Roman soldiers came and demanded the
people worship an image of MAXIMIAN. One Christian refused. It was
FIDES.

Because of her stubborn disobedience, the soldiers stripped her and

tied her to a griddle which they stretched over a bonfire. Legend says
an attendant angel saw FIDES’ plight and sent down a thick cloud to
cover her nakedness. This same cloud dampened the fire so the
Roman officer in charge ordered her dragged to an executioner who
chopped off her head.

When the soldiers had gone, pious hands collected her body and
head and hid them for safe keeping. Eventually, out of respect for her
courage, her remains were placed in a handsome sepulcher in the
Agen monastery.

Pilgrims began to come from great distances to behold the sepulcher

and marvel at the faith of a twelve-year-old girl. The church decreed
her a Saint, Saint FIDES. Legend say miraculous cures began to take
place at the monastery and soon the story of Saint FIDES was known
throughout all Western Christendom in those early middle ages.

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