Conques and powerful relics

OK, times were tough in the Middle Ages. People desperately needed something to believe in and had no choice but to believe in whatever the Roman Catholic Church was serving up...sometimes one's own head for opposing it. But whenever there is no-choice, there are people who want something different.

An opposition group to The Church sprang up and those who fought them, in the name of The Church, became martyrs. Such was the case in the story of a girl who, at 13 years old, was beheaded for her faith and became celebrated as Sainte Foy (Saint Faith, Santa Fe -- Holy Faith). The gold statue of her sitting on a throne dates back to the 9th Century and was added to over the years -- embedded rock crystal from the German empire, earrings from the 13th century, her face replaced from a previous Roman statue, her shoes remade in the 19th century. Now, with more than 1,000 years of decoration, this statue (maybe 3-feet tall), is the only one of its kind and has engendered more than 1,000 years of devotion and mythology.

It resides in a chapel in Conques, a charming village of silver-gray slate roofs, steep winding cobblestone streets and brown stone walls, nestled into the side of a hill in a remote part of Aveyron. The town is a major stop on the way to Compestela and is famous not only for the statue of the young martyr and many other bejeweled vessels that hold pieces of the cross and body bits from saints, but for its abbey church of Sainte-Foy.

This church is a landmark of Romanesque architecture -- soaring stone pillars and arches -- and an elaborate carving on the tympanum (over the front door) of the Last Judgement. Amid all the images of eternal suffering (which look like "regular living" at the time), there are some interesting and whimsical faces which are called "The Curious Ones." Perhaps the sculptor had an unusual sense of humor or incredible optimism about the after-life. Perhaps he was beheaded for heresy, these being the only light-hearted images amid the serious business of eternal life. The abbey is also famous for stained-glass windows by contemporary painter Pierre Soulages. Some half-million tourists and pilgrims visit Conque each year.