Una donna alla sequela di Colombano: Fara, fondatrice di Faremoutiers

This article analyzes the features of a female Saint, named Fara, and the development of her cult in the early Middle Ages. Fara founded the monastery of Eboriac, later called Faremoutiers after her, and lived in the first half of the 7th century. She is one of the minor figures celebrated by Jonah of Bobbio in the Vita Sancti Columbani, a portion of which (the Miracula Evoriacensia) is precisely committed to the monastic community of Fara. Jonah highlights Fara’s observance of the monastic model of Columbanus and his followers rather than emphasizing her holiness; he also focuses on her role as abbess rather than on her thaumaturgic capacity: indeed, in Jonah’s story no miracle by Fara is reported. It is traditionally assumed that the first translation of her body occurred – for devotional reasons – forty years after her death. Nonetheless, her holiness seems to be recognized only in the 9th century, when she begins to be celebrated as a saint in various works. Usuardus, for instance, includes her in his Martyrology. From this moment on, Fara’s cult will gradually develop and spread out, reaching geographical, historical and social contexts very distant from the one that shaped it.