Une entreprise hagiographique au XIe siècle dans l'abbaye de Fontenelle : le renouveau du culte de saint Vulfran

Au XIe siècle, au lendemain de la restauration de leur abbaye, les moines de Fontenelle se lancent dans une vaste entreprise hagiographique destinée à remédier à la pénurie de reliques à laquelle ils sont confrontés. Privés du corps de saint Wandrille, leur choix se porte sur saint Vulfran, archevêque de Sens et moine fontenellien, qui bénéficiait déjà d’un culte, à Fontenelle, avant les invasions scandinaves. Deux textes sont alors composés : l’Inventio et miracula sancti Vulfranni ainsi que les Miracula sancti Vulfranni. À travers leur examen, le présent article se propose d’étudier les motivations qui président à leur rédaction et d’identifier les enjeux qui entourent le soin apporté à la mémoire de saint Vulfran.In the XIth century, after the restoration of the abbey of Fontenelle, its monks launched a large hagiographical project in order to remedy the shortage of relics which they faced. Deprived of saint Wandrille’s body, their choice fell on saint Vulfran, archbishop of Sens and monk of Fontenelle, who had already benefited from a cult, in Fontenelle, before the Scandinavian invasions. Two texts were written: the Inventio et miracula sancti Vulfranni and the Miracula sancti Vulfranni. By examinating both texts, the author proposes to explore the monks’ motivations behind their writing and the significance of the monks’ appropriation of saint Vulfran’s memory

De l’usage politique du Précieux Sang dans l’Europe médiévale

Au cours du Moyen Âge, les reliques du Précieux Sang font l’objet de nombreuses translations entre Orient et Occident puis dans l’ensemble de l’Europe. Bien souvent, les grands y jouent un rôle majeur. Ce constat doit conduire à s’interroger sur l’intérêt qu’ils portent à ces restes du Christ. Comme on le verra, ceux-ci revêtent une lourde signification politique.In the Middle Ages, Holy blood relics were frequently translated, first between the Orient and the West, later throughout Europe. Quite often the aristocracy played a major role in the process of translation. This observation prompts the question as to the nature of the aristocracy's interest in Christ's remains. As shall be discussed, at the time such remains were imbued with considerable political meaning

Rare predicted loss-of-function variants of type I IFN immunity genes are associated with life-threatening COVID-19

BackgroundWe previously reported that impaired type I IFN activity, due to inborn errors of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I interferon (IFN) immunity or to autoantibodies against type I IFN, account for 15-20% of cases of life-threatening COVID-19 in unvaccinated patients. Therefore, the determinants of life-threatening COVID-19 remain to be identified in similar to 80% of cases.MethodsWe report here a genome-wide rare variant burden association analysis in 3269 unvaccinated patients with life-threatening COVID-19, and 1373 unvaccinated SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals without pneumonia. Among the 928 patients tested for autoantibodies against type I IFN, a quarter (234) were positive and were excluded.ResultsNo gene reached genome-wide significance. Under a recessive model, the most significant gene with at-risk variants was TLR7, with an OR of 27.68 (95%CI 1.5-528.7, P=1.1x10(-4)) for biochemically loss-of-function (bLOF) variants. We replicated the enrichment in rare predicted LOF (pLOF) variants at 13 influenza susceptibility loci involved in TLR3-dependent type I IFN immunity (OR=3.70[95%CI 1.3-8.2], P=2.1x10(-4)). This enrichment was further strengthened by (1) adding the recently reported TYK2 and TLR7 COVID-19 loci, particularly under a recessive model (OR=19.65[95%CI 2.1-2635.4], P=3.4x10(-3)), and (2) considering as pLOF branchpoint variants with potentially strong impacts on splicing among the 15 loci (OR=4.40[9%CI 2.3-8.4], P=7.7x10(-8)). Finally, the patients with pLOF/bLOF variants at these 15 loci were significantly younger (mean age [SD]=43.3 [20.3] years) than the other patients (56.0 [17.3] years; P=1.68x10(-5)).ConclusionsRare variants of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I IFN immunity genes can underlie life-threatening COVID-19, particularly with recessive inheritance, in patients under 60 years old