6 October

It’s the feast day of St. Faith, a 3rd century Roman martyr from the Aquitaine region.

Above: 12th century parchment depicting Saint Faith.

In the legends Saint Faith was a very young Christian born in the city of Agen, in Roman Gaul, in the third century. When a judge named Dacian arrived in the city the people rejoiced that he would vindicate the power of the pagan gods by forcing the Christians to recant or die. Foy was the first Christian brought before him, and he tried to persuade her to save her life by sacrificing to Diana. When she refused he had her stretched out on a gridiron over a roaring fire and applied “an uncountable number of wicked punishments.”

Previously on October 6, St. Thomas.