her remains had been transferred to Conques, which was along the pilgrimage route to Compostela. Her cult, centered at the Abbatiale Sainte-Foy de Conques, spread along the pilgrim routes on the Way of St. James—and beyond, for her cult became popular in England, Italy, and South America. In 1105, a priory dedicated to Saint Faith was erected in Horsham, a village in Norfolk, by Robert and Sybil Fitzwalter, in which murals of Saint Faith have survived, discovered in 1969 hidden behind a refectory wall. The gilded reliquary at Conques was described in Bernard of Angers's Book of Miracles of Sainte Foi, about 1010. Bernard of Anger's Book of Miracles of Sainte Foy provides an insightful testimony of his reaction towards Sainte Foy as a Medieval cleric and his ambivalent attitude towards reliquaries in general. His change in attitude came when he witnessed an "economically charged [miracle]" in which another cleric, Odalric, claimed he was beaten by Sainte Foy. Thus, Bernard of Angers believed that Sainte Foy punishes non-believers, and, despite previously attacking the statue, he justified his newfound devotion by stating that the idol was a "vehicle to the saint and not the saint herself." It has since been repeatedly adapted and enriched, into the nineteenth century. The head itself, made of a different gold from the body—which is fashioned of thin plates over a yew wood—has been tentatively identified as an imperial portrait of the Later Roman Empire. Thomas Hoving, former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has alternately theorized that the life-size golden face is a portrait or death mask of Charlemagne. Part of her relics were moved to the monastery of Sant Cugat in Catalonia in 1365. However, the reliquary can be seen in the Abbey at Conques, in France. Important churches were also dedicated to her at Conches-en-Ouche in Normandy and at Sélestat, in Alsace (see St. Faith's Church, Sélestat). Notes and references Explanatory footnotes Notes References External links Biographical resources Saint Faith at Catholic Online Santa Fede di Agen Saint Faith of Agen Hagiography Abbey of Saint Foy, Conques Indexed images of Abbey of St. Foy from Bluffton University Article on abbey and reliquary at the Khan Academy Iconography Saint Foy at the Christian Iconography web site 287 deaths 3rd-century Gallo-Roman people 3rd-century Christian martyrs Gallo-Roman saints Year of birth unknown Executed ancient Roman women 3rd-century Roman women Ante-Nicene Christian female saints People from