Le merveilleux dans la Vie seint Marcel de Lymoges de Wauchier de Denain

This article studies the way in which the marvellous is reinvested with apologetic ends by Wauchier de Denain in his French translation of the life of Saint Martial de Limoges. In order to prove the artificial and highly contested apostolicity of this saint, the translator multiplies the historical and geographical information, but, above all, he relies on the recovery (retractatio) of the marvellous motifs with an evangelical origin which then appear as a source of authenticity central to the hagiographic genre.