The miraculous properties attributed to this image, it is certainly due to its special role as a reliquary statue. The back of the work is indeed equipped with a small quadrangular opening located in the centre, between the lappets of the bishop’s mitre, which hang down his back. This is a typical repository, designed to conserve holy fragments of the Saint depicted. This type of anthropomorphic ritual icon began to spread in the 9th and 10th centuries around the historic regions of Auvergne and Limousin, and to the south in the neighbouring districts of Lozère and Aveyron, giving rise to a longstanding tradition that became a specific characteristic of the artistic output of areas on the Massif Central, albeit not exclusively.
