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Little Saint
In this beautiful book Hannah Green weaves the weft yarns of the remote past into the warp of the present. "Little Saint" is a remarkable work that defies categorisation but matches the best writing on travel, on the religious experience, and on the art of writing itself. The book is also an ecstatic memoir, an ode to joy, death, the earthly and the spiritual. Green and her artist husband Jack were drawn to Conques, in south-central France, when they heard about a valley north of Provence, on the route of Notre Dame du Puy, one of the four pilgrimage routes that led across France to Santiago de Compostella. In the valley is the Plô, the healing spring praised in the twelfth century 'Guide for the Pilgrim to Saint James of Compostelle', and the village of Conques, housing the relics of a 12-year-old-girl who was martyred for her faith in nearby Agen in the year 303, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Foy's remains arrived in Conques over 500 years after she was put to death for responding to the Proconsul Dacien's questions with the "My name is Faith. And I am a Christian." She was brought to Conques in the ninth century, delivered by the monk Aronside, the 'Pious Robber' who stole her holy bones, her belt, a few amber beads, and bits of cloth the Christians has used to wipe the blood from her skin when, following her death and in secret, they took her body from the public square to a hidden place in the hills. The young girl's story captured the imagination of Hannah Green, who felt a need to go and visit the saint and the ancient village. Hannah and Jack were immediately enchanted by Conques, which became a second home to them. The villagers not only accepted the American couple, they also welcomed and came to love them. Conques is a very special place in a region that is quite different from the rest of France.
- GenresNonfictionFranceMemoir
Hardcover
First published July 18, 2000
11 people are currently reading
160 people want to read
About the author
Hannah Green
5 books6 followersNot to be confused with Hannah Green, pseudonym of Joanne Greenberg.
Hannah Green (1927–1996) was an American author. The re-release of her classic work, The Dead of the House, was received with almost as much critical enthusiasm as its original publication in 1972. She was born in Ohio and lived most of her adult life in New York. As an undergraduate at Wellesley, she enrolled in Vladimir Nabokov's survey of Russian literature in translation, which she later wrote about in The New Yorker. Ms. Green completed her MFA at Stanford University with Wallace Stegner. There she met Tillie Olsen, and the two began a lifelong friendship. In 1960, she was a recipient of the first of many MacDowell Colony residencies. Among her published work are articles in The New Yorker, the books, The Dead of the House and Little Saint: My Book of the Hours of Saint Foy (published posthumously in 2000), and the children's book, In the City of Paris. For several years, Ms. Green taught in the writing programs of Columbia University and New York University. Until her death in 1996, she was married to the American artist John Wesley.
Hannah Green (1927–1996) was an American author. The re-release of her classic work, The Dead of the House, was received with almost as much critical enthusiasm as its original publication in 1972. She was born in Ohio and lived most of her adult life in New York. As an undergraduate at Wellesley, she enrolled in Vladimir Nabokov's survey of Russian literature in translation, which she later wrote about in The New Yorker. Ms. Green completed her MFA at Stanford University with Wallace Stegner. There she met Tillie Olsen, and the two began a lifelong friendship. In 1960, she was a recipient of the first of many MacDowell Colony residencies. Among her published work are articles in The New Yorker, the books, The Dead of the House and Little Saint: My Book of the Hours of Saint Foy (published posthumously in 2000), and the children's book, In the City of Paris. For several years, Ms. Green taught in the writing programs of Columbia University and New York University. Until her death in 1996, she was married to the American artist John Wesley.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 9, 2008
This book is more of a meditation but it also has a nice narrative that inspired me to visit the church in Conques, France upon which it's based. Sadly, Hannah Green died shortly after completely this non fiction work and there's only one other book, a novel, she wrote. If it's possible to write about internal transformation ---almost as thought it's happening in real time--and not write it as though it's better found in one's 5th grade diary, Little Saint is the book that achieves it.
August 18, 2019
There is so much I could say about the details of this book, but I will limit myself to the overall impression I had. As you are reading the book, you can sense the "radiance" that permeates the lives of the people of Conques because of their attachment to St. Foy that sanctifies their daily lives. During the time I was reading this book, I experienced many moments of peace and joy and light that can only be explained by the presence of Grace. I very much appreciate Hannah's way of perceiving and communicating the radiance she experienced in Conques.
July 18, 2025
I really wanted to like this book. I love travelogues, meditations on one’s faith, slow books about small towns….should have been a slam dunk.
I thought a lot about why I didn’t like it, and I think I’ll settle for this: it reads as if a grown woman went off to Narnia without any of the accompanying Christology. She’s in love with the magic of the appearance and atmosphere of faith, but there was minimal evidence of any actual encounter with Christ, and (frankly) that seems fairly shallow to me.
I thought a lot about why I didn’t like it, and I think I’ll settle for this: it reads as if a grown woman went off to Narnia without any of the accompanying Christology. She’s in love with the magic of the appearance and atmosphere of faith, but there was minimal evidence of any actual encounter with Christ, and (frankly) that seems fairly shallow to me.
March 2, 2016
In 1975, the author and her husband traveled to a remote French village and saw there the relic containing the bones of Saint Foy, an early Christian martyr. This beautiful book recounts the author’s engagement with Saint Foy and Conques, the French village where both Saint Foy and her relic are treasured. Rooted in the author and her husband’s many summers with Saint Foy and the people of Conques, this intensely personal book explores mysticism, history, and faith through the author’s experience and research.
Little Saint was not quite finished at the author’s death and was minimally edited for publication by her husband and editors. Sadly, this is only one of three volumes that the author had planned. Photos of Conques, the church, and the relic of Saint Foy are included along with a helpful map of the area.
“She [Saint Foy] is the sacred center. Around her the wheel of the story with its thousand starry spokes spins…We came first as travelers, Jack and I, in the springtime of 1975, to have our hearts caught unaware…”
“On the far side of the cloister in the long, chapel-like room called the Treasure, she sits on her throne—a small, stiff gold figure robed in gold and covered with jewels and crowned with a golden diadem.”
“She is a touching figure, less than three feet in height; her head is large, her body small, then. Not a likeness in any ordinary sense, her statue is, rather, symbolic. It is a shrine. And in some mystic way it suggests to the mind’s eye more strongly than any imagined likeness could the presence of Saint Foy herself as she was, with her young fresh skin and the radiance, the life, in her face, the light, and as she is: bone and spirit come to God.”
“A foreigner in her country, I come awkwardly, an anachronism, I suppose, and yet she came to light my life, to lead me into regions heretofore unknown to me, and I could not for the world give her up.”
Little Saint was not quite finished at the author’s death and was minimally edited for publication by her husband and editors. Sadly, this is only one of three volumes that the author had planned. Photos of Conques, the church, and the relic of Saint Foy are included along with a helpful map of the area.
“She [Saint Foy] is the sacred center. Around her the wheel of the story with its thousand starry spokes spins…We came first as travelers, Jack and I, in the springtime of 1975, to have our hearts caught unaware…”
“On the far side of the cloister in the long, chapel-like room called the Treasure, she sits on her throne—a small, stiff gold figure robed in gold and covered with jewels and crowned with a golden diadem.”
“She is a touching figure, less than three feet in height; her head is large, her body small, then. Not a likeness in any ordinary sense, her statue is, rather, symbolic. It is a shrine. And in some mystic way it suggests to the mind’s eye more strongly than any imagined likeness could the presence of Saint Foy herself as she was, with her young fresh skin and the radiance, the life, in her face, the light, and as she is: bone and spirit come to God.”
“A foreigner in her country, I come awkwardly, an anachronism, I suppose, and yet she came to light my life, to lead me into regions heretofore unknown to me, and I could not for the world give her up.”
January 3, 2017
It is hard to get enough of the lives of the saints. While many protestants tell Catholics that saints are a distraction from God, they are actually very helpful in helping people to amend their lives by having role models sharing our same weaknesses and failings who have overcome their human frailties to lead holy lives. It is always enlightening, therefore, to learn of new saints, or at least saints who are new to you.
Sainte Foy is certainly not one of the more popular saints in the heavenly hosts. Her story is interesting, therefore, particularly since this account of it is written from a protestant perspective. A Catholic author would present to you the hagiography of the saint, and then relate the cult currently surrounding the saint and the miracles associated with her since her death to the present.
Disappointingly, the history of Saint Foy is remarkably short. Because of when she lived and died (in the late third century) it is likely that there is not much more to tell, of course. Her name, in the local tongue, means Faith, and she is variously referred to in history as St. Faith, or St. Foy, or Sancta Fides, or Santa Fe.
Her cult continues because of the example she set, kept alive by the village in France where she lived, and which celebrates her still today. The book is not about St. Foy, however, as much as it is about Hannah Green's experiences at Conques, France, and her interaction with the simple but gracious people of that town. This perspective, however, is still a valid one. The purpose of studying the lives of the saints is to draw us closer to God. To see how St. Foy's life continues to impact people today serves that purpose.
This is a non-traditional life of a saint, but, like all holy lives, is still worthy of study and reflection.
Sainte Foy is certainly not one of the more popular saints in the heavenly hosts. Her story is interesting, therefore, particularly since this account of it is written from a protestant perspective. A Catholic author would present to you the hagiography of the saint, and then relate the cult currently surrounding the saint and the miracles associated with her since her death to the present.
Disappointingly, the history of Saint Foy is remarkably short. Because of when she lived and died (in the late third century) it is likely that there is not much more to tell, of course. Her name, in the local tongue, means Faith, and she is variously referred to in history as St. Faith, or St. Foy, or Sancta Fides, or Santa Fe.
Her cult continues because of the example she set, kept alive by the village in France where she lived, and which celebrates her still today. The book is not about St. Foy, however, as much as it is about Hannah Green's experiences at Conques, France, and her interaction with the simple but gracious people of that town. This perspective, however, is still a valid one. The purpose of studying the lives of the saints is to draw us closer to God. To see how St. Foy's life continues to impact people today serves that purpose.
This is a non-traditional life of a saint, but, like all holy lives, is still worthy of study and reflection.
December 10, 2010
I loved this eccentric book - a travel book of sorts based on the author's residence in a small French village named Conques, in south central France, roughly between Bordeaux and Grenoble. The village is the home of the reliquary of an very early saint, 4th century, Sainte Foy.
I tried some of Hannah Green's other novels but couldn't relate to them. But "Little Saint" a great pleasure.
I tried some of Hannah Green's other novels but couldn't relate to them. But "Little Saint" a great pleasure.
February 2, 2008
rediscovering Sainte FOY
April 19, 2009
I would probably give this a "2" if I didn't live in the Aveyron department, which is a big historical part of the book. This one really didn't do it for me.
November 17, 2012
Exquisite treasure of a book about a Treasure of the ages. Author studied with Nabokov and Stegner. Need I say more.
January 21, 2008
French people love chestnuts.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews