ABSTRACT
After the acquisition of Foy’s relics in the ninth century and the development of Foy’s image as miracle worker by the beginning of the eleventh century, the cultural work of making the Conques abbey shrine a compelling center of religious devotion in the region began. This chapter explores some of the ways Foy’s cult was disseminated throughout Europe from the eleventh century onward, whether through the iconography of martyrdom, the establishment of institutions where the saint’s liturgy could be celebrated as well as the production of liturgical and devotional texts, the support of churchmen with special dedication to Sainte Foy, and the eventual reanimation of cult sites by supplying new relics. It focuses on the second kind of cultural work performed by Sainte Foy: to support broad ecclesiastical agendas.
