Les reliques et miracles de sainte Foy de Conques. Dévotion, contestation et enjeu de pouvoir entre terre et ciel au XIe siècle

Abstract

The relics and miracles of St. Foy of Conques. Devotion, dispute and a game of power between earth and heaven in the XIth century. The Liber miraculorum and the relics of St. Foy of Conques are known to have fascinated numerous researchers. The question of a survival of paganism (revival of the use of an imperial mask as a figure of “the idol”, a tale full of reminiscences of ancient authors) has been debated for a very long time. However, the biblical fertilisation of the Liber should not be neglected. Bernard of Angers remains as inheritor of the Carolingian ecclesiastical renaissance. His literary work, as well as the monumental buildings (basilica, locus secretus, aurea imago), celebrate the triumph of the Christian faith by associating biblical theology with eschatological conception. The corporeal remains of St. Foy and her appearances do not make ofr to sacer locus, in the ancient sense including dream et incubation, propitiatorium invoking Christ, the Saviour of men. The Majesty of St. Foy, by its singularity, causes the golden face of the Beloved to shine (Ct 5, 11). It accompanies men in their earthly journey in the fashion of the arc of the alliance (Ex 25, 10-18) and arouses reverential fear in the face of the Judge at the end of time (Ap 20, 11). More prosaically, the power represented by a certain relic allows assurance of the prosperity of the monastery through the influx of gold and the trade in candles.