SAINT FOY ABBEY IN CONQUES

Conques, the Abbey Church

If you ring the bell of the Saint Foy Chapel loud enough, the monks of the Abbey in Conques will answer you by ringing back their own. This was the fulfilled promise that had been made to a man we met in Livinhac. As we descended towards Conques and reached the Saint Foy Chapel, I rang the bell several times but its sound was a little faint and at this time of late afternoon, the monks may have been busy doing something else than waiting to hear the bell of the Saint Foy Chapel. Since we were walking in the opposite direction than the main flow (going towards Le Puy en Velay and not Santiago de Compostella), we were not really expected at that time to ring a bell.

The Chapel of Saint Foy is built on the spot where a monk, coming back from Agen with the stolen relics of Saint Foy, fell asleep of exhaustion. In his sleep, Saint Foy would have asked him if he would rather prefer wine for a day or water for eternity. He chose water and as a result a water source with curative properties sprang to life a little downhill from the place. 

In the early 4th century in Agen, the Romans were trying to convert locals to worship their own gods. Foy, a twelve year old girl, was however a very determined Christian. She would go about with her friends and sing Christian songs which was not to the taste of the Romans. She was arrested with her friends and charged with a death sentence to send the right signal to the population of Agen. She was put on a grill, but rain came to put off the fire and the legend says that a dove appeared in the sky. The Roman judge, angered, ordered that she and her friends be beheaded and their bodies disposed of in the neighbouring marshes. Their relatives went and collected their remains in order to give them a proper Christian grave. This was the start of the worship of Saint Foy after their sanctification in October 303 AD. The bodies were turned into relics for worshipping. Much later in Conques, in the 8th century, a pilgrimage to Saint Foy was opened, but the issue was that there were none of her relics there to worship. Two monks from Conques were sent to Agen. They stayed there for ten years and cleverly became in charge of the relics. One fine day, they left for Conques with all the relics of Saint Foy. This theft was regarded by the Church and the public as a "pious theft" because miracles started to happen for worshippers of Saint Foy in Conques. They legitimised the presence of the relics in Conques. A statue of Saint Foy was put on the front of her Chapel. This way she is always looking at the village Conques which is nested against the South facing shell-shaped slope (hence the name Conques) of a hill. The whole village is built in stone on terraces. Streets are narrow and there are only a couple of squares like the one of the Cathedral. Looking at Conques from the forest on the opposite slope is a great view, it gives the impression of a jewel laid amidst a green forest. The cathedral stands out by its size from the rest of the surrounding buildings.

The city was founded by a monk called Dadon in 8th century AD. It was soon managed by the Benedictine order. Monks would contribute to improve infrastructures, build a water-mill in the valley, dry-up marshes to turn them into agricultural land, etc... In the following centuries, some monks travelled with some relics of Saint Foy and started to spread her influence as far as Santa Fe (Saint Foy in spanish) in Mexico. There is also a chapel dedicated to her in Westminster Abbey in London.

The roman-styled Abbey Church is undoubtedly the masterpiece of Conques. It has unusual dimensions. It is twenty two meters high in the nave (which is only twenty meters long) and the transept (which is thirty five meters long, unusually large compared with the nave). It accommodates a first storey ambulatory gallery where one feels like entering another church above the one on the ground floor which also has an ambulatory for pilgrims to circulate around the nave and the transept and access to the side chapels. The Church was built between the 11th and the 12th century on top of the original 10th century Church.

The Abbey Church is entered using the door positioned below the representation of hell on the tympanum as a symbol for coming to the Cathedral laden with worries and sins and leaving it through the door above which a representation of paradise is carved as a symbol for relief obtained during the visit. The monks were always highlighting that one comes to the Church to seek relief, quiet and rest which praying usually provides. The Church is meant to be a chamber insulated from the worries of the outside world. Inside, the light is most important and it changes throughout the day as the sun pivots from East to West. In 1994, Pierre Soulage, an artist living in the Cévennes, produced the current set of stained-glasses. He used a translucent glass that captures the colours of outside, grey when it is in the shade, white-yellow when the sun shines on them and orange blueish at night from the street lamps. All this gives a different perspective to the church.

We stayed, as it was recommended to us, at the Abbey hostel itself which is located right behind the Church. It is a castle-like building made of dark stones. It has a large square inner courtyard which is where people leave their muddy walking shoes for the night. A spiralling staircase gives access to the different floors and allow access to the rooms and dormitories. The hostel is run by volunteers who have made it to Compostella and want to contribute further to the experience of pilgrims going to Compostella. Their welcome was very warm and efficient. Conques is about a week's walk from Le Puy en Velay where most pilgrims start. After a week, they sometimes need encouragement and counselling which can be provided here. Our room had direct view on the side chapels, allowing to look at the stained-glasses from outside.
The Abbey is now run by the Premontrés, who are not ordinary monks because they are in contact with pilgrims to welcome them and also serve God. The pilgrim welcome program is fairly tightly packed for those choosing to follow it. Dinner was served in a large room decorated with stained glasses telling the foundation of the Prémontrés order founded by Saint Norbert. We were welcomed by one of the monks who told us about the order and the evolution of the pilgrimage in Conques, had us sing the pilgrims' song "ultreia..." before leaving us to dinner. After dinner, there was a benediction of the pilgrims, in the Abbey Church itself, in several languages. A simple message about loving the Other. After that, Father Adrien, explained the multi-colored carving on the tympanum with a lot of good humour and then invited us in to listen to a short organ concert he is giving at the Abbey  Church at 9.30pm every evening until 10pm. An early morning mass was available for the pilgrims, but most of them seem to have preferred walking early, perhaps because they heard so much about the climb out of Conques!

Images:

1/ Conques and the Abbey Church

2/ Saint Foy Chapel

3/ Inside the Abbey Church

4/ Father Adrien explains the tympanum carving

5/ Stained glasses from Pierre Soulages (outside)

Saint Foy Chapel

inside the Abbey Church

Father Adrien explains the carving of the tympanum

stained glass from Pierre Soulages