Faustus of Alguaire

Faustus of Alguaire (Fost) is a legendary saint, venerated as a patron of farmers at Alguaire in Catalonia and at Bujanda in the Basque Country. His name is not in the Roman Martyrology, and scholars regard him rather as the product of an overlap of local traditions.

According to the legend he was a peasant of Alguaire, hard-⁠working and charitable; he had not gone to school but taught himself to read and read devotional books with diligence. Setting out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he was seized by Muslim pirates and sold as a slave. His master saw one day that the plough was working by itself while Faustus prayed; after repeated conversations with him he became a Christian, set him free and accompanied him back to Alguaire. Faustus reposed a few years later, around 604 according to some accounts.

His friends placed the body on a blind mare and let her go. She followed the rivers Segre, Ebro, Aragón and Ega to Bujanda (in Álava), where she struck the ground with her hoof and fell dead; a healing spring welled up at that spot, and the saint was buried beside it. His incorrupt body is venerated at Bujanda. His memory is kept on 13 October, the day of Saints Faustus, Januarius and Martial of Córdoba, with whom he was probably confused. He is venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization.