the worship of saint foy

During the 9^th century, at a time when the importance of relics grew dramatically and when the presence of a holy body lead to a huge spiritual impact for an abbey holding them, Conques was oddly left out. This was the time when Conques' monks, after fruitless attempts to obtain relics, turned their attention to the holy relics of Saint Foy from Agen, which were well revered in Aquitaine. Their "abduction", called a "furtive transfer", took place circa 866.

The arrival of Saint Foy's relics in their new home, where they would later on perform miracles for the blinds and the prisoners in particular, drew crowds of pilgrims from all over France coming to ask for special benefits. For the abbey, this situation meant a new birth. Construction works would then go on for three centuries without interruption, providing prosperity to the area. During the 9^th and 10^th centuries, the expansion permitted the emergence of the first pieces of art, including the famous Saint Foy statue-reliquary, prayed to worshipers, and set in a three naves church preceded by a bell porch.

At the same time, the tomb of the apostle James in Compostela, became a pilgrimage site, surpassing the other great pilgrimages of the Christian world. The well-known miracles of Saint Foy were strong enough to bring Conques into the highlights and for it to be chosen as a major town-relay, set on one of the four main Compostela French trails, the one starting from Le-Puy-en-Velay. After the difficult and dreadful crossing of the Aubrac "desert", pilgrims travelling alone or in groups would reach the more welcoming landscapes of the Lot River, at Espalion. From Estaing, going on through Golinhac village, where a stone cross carries a pilgrim's image holding his walking-stick (bourdon in French), they would pass Espeyrac, Sénergues and Saint-Marcel, to finally reach Conques, after a long journey. Departing from Conques, they could choose two itineraries to reach Quercy and the abbey of Moissac. The shortest one crossed the Dourdou River by the Pilgrims' bridge (pont romain in French, from romius, a pilgrim in Occitan), to reach Aubin further on. From Conques, the alternative route would go under the gates of La Vinzelle, a path leading towards Grand-Vabre and Figeac, towards the North-West boundaries. Such pilgrimage, with its loads of donations and offerings alike, brought power and prosperity to Saint-Foy Abbey and, consequently, was the ideal condition for its artistic influence.

Up to then, the devotion to Saint Foy was limited to Rouergue and the neighbouring regions, but spread rapidly all over the Christian world, supported by the pilgrims' worship and boosted by a major piece of literature from the early 11t^h century, the Book of the Miracles of Saint Foy, written by Bernard, a master in Angers Cathedral School. Conques monastery was by then holding numerous lands and priories, within a radius of twenty kilometres, and attracted an important urban population which settled close by. Conques kept on spreading his influence and acquired possessions in Rouergue and all over the Western Christian world, from Saint-Foy in Cavagnolo, in Piemont, Horsham in England, Selestat or even Bamberg in the German world and as far as Catalogna and Navarra. The Abbey Cartulary, a manuscript from the 12^th century listing donations, is a witness to the creation of a true monastic empire for three centuries, an empire powerful enough to be kept out of the influence of Cluny that overlooked most of the great Benedictine abbeys, such as Saint-Geraud in Aurillac or Saint-Pierre in Moissac. More still, Conques was a rival of Cluny during the Spanish Reconquista against the Muslims, founding churches or designating bishops for the new dioceses of Aragon and Navarra.