Saint Faith

Saint Faith was born in Agen in Aquitaine, in what is now southwestern France, and is remembered as a young virgin who loved Christ more than life itself. During the Roman persecutions, she was arrested and ordered to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. With quiet courage she refused, choosing fidelity to the Lord over safety and approval. For this steadfast confession she was subjected to cruel torments, and tradition holds that she was martyred by being tortured over a red-hot brazier, likely at the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth century. Her witness quickly inspired devotion among the faithful, and she was honored in the Church’s martyrologies as a virgin and martyr. Centuries later her relics were brought to the Abbey of Sainte-Foy at Conques, which became a radiant center of pilgrimage on the route to Compostela, spreading her veneration far beyond her homeland. Saint Faith is honored as patron of Graglia. Her feast day is October 6.