Description: Four figures on each face representing the four virtues. The names are found on a faux-tailloir.
fourth column south of rond-point, towards the west
Dates to 12th century
Reference: The four Virtues represented on this have been erroneously interpreted by Mâle, and fixed by Bréhier, who saw taht the martyr, St. Priest and personnifications of his virtues. Dates to 12h century.
Description: Hemicycle, capital on the second column south, parting from the west. On the left angle of the east face, the donor offers a Volvic priest a column symbolizing the church, whose altar is surmounted by a chalice representing the architecture. On the west face, two angels with wings, carry a standard. The angel on the left guards the sanctuary owed to Guillaume.
Reference: The toponymy "Bezac" is not found in the Auvergne. The only commune of the same name is found in the Ariège. Saint Priest was massacred in 674 in his own home, the same place where Avit founded the first monastery. Guillaume de Bezac is not known apart from this inscription. Based on iconography, the donation is not limited to the capital, but includes a large part of the Romanesque sanctuary. The inscription suggests a twelfth-century date, most probably after the first third, based on the Romanesque form used for the donor name.
Face:
INCIPIT DONALIA : SAN
Begin the donation of
Face:
IT : GUILELMES : DE BEZAC
was made by Guillaume de Bezac
Face:
CTI PRECTI : QUE FEC
sacred precinct (precti ?) which
[Corpus translates as: Begin the donation of Saint Priest that Guillaume de Bezac made pour his soul and that of his wife)