Susanna of Rome in Brittany
Nothing is known of pilgrimages to Susanna, but a mould suggests that there was a pilgrimage cult of Susanna in the abbey of Le Mont-Saint-Michel. The mould shows an image of a female saint veiled and holding a book. Underneath her feet there is an inscription in French that has been interpreted as SAINTE DUCANNE and the woman subsequently as duchess Anne of Brittany. This seems unlikely however, because the duchess was never sanctified nor was there ever any claim for her beatification or sanctification after she died. It is more likely that the inscription reads SAINTE SUSANNE.
Depicted then is Susanna of Rome who was, as legend had it, desired by the son of Emperor Diocletian. He asked her to marry him but she refused wanting to remain a virgin. As punishment she was beheaded. Her vita dates from the sixth century and probably is fictitious. Most likely Susanna never existed. Nevertheless her supposed relics are kept and venerated in the Roman church of Santa Susanna al Quirinale in Rome.
Her relics also found their way to Brittany, specifically to the abbey on Le Mont-Saint-Michel. In a book review Elisabeth Rabeisen points out the presence of a fourteenth-century reliquary of Susanna in the abbey, in 1640. Later, it was moved to the church of Saint-Gervais in Avranches. The mould found in Le Mont-Saint-Michel (Kunera no. 26932) attests to a cult where pilgrims could venerate Susanna and buy badges of the saint.
Literature: Élisabeth Rabeisen, book review Françoise LABAUNE-JEAN dir., Le plomb et la pierre : petits objets de dévotion pour les pèlerins du Mont-Saint-Michel, de la conception à la production (XIVe-XVe siècles)’, Revue archéologique de l’Est 65 (2016), p. 453-460.