Medieval Saints and Donkeys #1

Sainte Foy (Saint Faith)

This post, in honour of Sainte Foy whose feast day is October 6^th, is the first in a series on saints and their associations with donkeys in the Middle Ages, that will appear over the coming year.

In medieval Christian Europe, a saint was someone who had lived an exemplary life with an extraordinary devotion to God. Saints were free from sin, which meant that when they died, they went straight to heaven, bypassing purgatory – a sort of waiting room, where most Christians went, whilst their earthly sins were remediated. Saints could intercede with God hence people prayed to the saints for God’s help. Saints had other powers too – they could perform miracles; some had even performed them during their lifetimes. The lives of saints became important, and many were written down telling of the miracles they had performed in life and death. These stories are known as hagiographies and whilst they may seem fantastical to modern ears – they were believed as indicative of the power of God. God could do the impossible. Saints embodied that sense of the impossible and each saint was recognised in the church calendar with a feast day.

Manuscript Leaf with June Calendar, from a Royal Psalter (13th century)

June is written at the top; the text includes the names of saints and feasts to be celebrated during that month. In the lower margin is a tinted drawing of the martyrdoms of Saints Peter and Paul, celebrated on June 29th; the corresponding holy day is listed in gold letters. The feast day of St John the Baptist is also listed – June 24^th.

Sainte Foy (Faith) lived in Agen, Gaul (modern-day France) during the third century. At this time, the country was under Roman control and pagan in its faith. When the Roman authorities asked everyone to make a sacrifice to the pagan Gods, the twelve-year-old Foy, a convert to Christianity, refused and was condemned to die. Other Christians, after witnessing Foy’s conviction of faith, also stood fast and they too were condemned to death. Foy’s reputation as a faithful Christian meant that she acquired saint status and pilgrims venerated her remains for many centuries until the ninth century when a monk from the abbey at Conques stole them – Naughty monk!

The monks displayed the relics of Foy in their abbey church at Conques and this attracted many pilgrims – Conques is on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain. As they prayed to the saint and venerated her relics, they left many gifts, often precious gems. These were added to the casing – reliquary – that held Foy’s remains and is now a bejewelled sight to behold.

So, what about donkeys I hear you say? Well, as the years passed there were many reports of miracles that had happened in the region and which were attributed to Foy, especially if someone had prayed to Foy with a request for help. When Bernard of Angers wrote Foy’s life story – hagiography – in the early 1000s, he noted that several of her reported miracles involved donkeys (and mules). In four miracles Foy resurrected a dead ass. In each case she did not respond to the owners’ pleas for help until the ass had died and was about to be flayed, only then did she intervene and bring the ass back to life. Each ass then bore its skinning wounds as a permanent reminder of the saint’s power. In another miracle, Sainte Foy provided an ass to help a prisoner escape from his captors. The prisoner was being held in chains in a tower and he prayed to Sainte Foy to help him escape. Not only did she encourage him to leap from the window, bestowing on him the ability to ‘float’ to earth, but she also supplied a heavenly ass that carried him to safety before disappearing without trace. The newly liberated prisoner then gave thanks to the saint.

What is significant about these miracles and Sainte Foy?

Foy was an exceptional saint – raising animals from the dead was an uncommon miracle.
The resurrection motif taught Christians about redemption and new life within a Christian way of life.
Donkeys were closely associated with the life and times of Jesus. The heavenly donkey that carried the prisoner to safety is reminiscent of the holy family’s flight into Egypt: each ass performs a salvific task.
The number of donkeys recalled in the miracles attests to their importance in everyday medieval life.
The naughty monk who stole Foy’s relics knew the economic power of relics. Conques and its abbey church benefitted from all the pilgrims who stopped in the small town.