Saint Hilarian 2


Does it exist a representation of St Hilarian from the Roman age?
A priori, no. But is it really sure?
The church of St Pierre in Bessuéjouls has, in its high chapel, an altar which bears
on its right side a strange figure named: "angel with a phylacter"

 St Pierre's Angel
The sculpted figures on the two sides of the altar in St Pierre's high chapel show:
On left side, the archangel Michael is bringing down a dragon, and on the right side, a very strange angel. A superficial examination let to think that is an "angel with a phylactery", but some details attract attention:

First detail:
the chasuble
That angel doesn't wear an ecclesiastical alb as usual, but a chasuble which is a liturgical clothing worn by the priest during the mass. That angel, in spite of the presence of wings, is a priest.


Second detail:
the saw
The angel holds in its hands a saw used by sawyer, but not a phylactery which is a strip with winded ends and an inscription.



These details allow to submitting a hypothesis about the figure  
represented by that sculpture:
Saint  Hilarian
By that hypothesis, a hermit, named Hilarian, came from the Orient to that valley, to live his faith in loneliness and prayer.
His presence disturbed some locals on account of faith or xenophobia, and they murdered him. The saw he holds in his hands perhaps indicates he was murdered by sawyers, a hypothesis corroborated by a wrong translation in the Conques cartulary where the name "Serrazinus" is translated in "sarrasin" when this word came from the Latin verb "serrare"( to cut) and name a sawyer.
The Conques abbey, after the donation in 1060, invent a legend to promote a monastery situated on the Compostelle route.