Giles | |
|---|---|
 Detail ofSaint Giles and the Hind, by theMaster of Saint Gilesc. 1500 | |
| Abbot, Hermit | |
| Born | c. 650[1] Athens,Achaea,Eastern Roman Empire |
| Died | c. 710 (aged c. 60)[1] Septimania,Visigothic Kingdom (Languedoc,Southern France) |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church Anglican Communion |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Majorshrine | Abbey of Saint-Gilles (Saint-Gilles,France) St. Giles' Cathedral (Edinburgh,Scotland) |
| Feast | 1 September |
| Attributes | arrow;crosier;hermitage;hind |
| Patronage | beggars;blacksmiths;breast cancer;breast feeding;cancer patients;disabled people;Edinburgh (Scotland);epilepsy;noctiphobics;forests;hermits;horses;lepers;mental illness;outcasts;poor people;rams;spur makers;sterility |
SaintGiles (/dʒaɪlz/,Latin:Aegidius,French:Gilles,Italian:Egidio,Spanish:Gil;c. 650 -c. 710), also known asGiles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lowerRhône most likely in the 7th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but hishagiography is mostly legendary. Atown that bears his name grew up around themonastery he purportedly founded, which became apilgrimage centre and a stop on theWay of Saint James.
The legend of Giles connects him toCaesarius of Arles, who died in 543. In 514, Caesarius sent a messenger, Messianus, toPope Symmachus in the company of an abbot named Aegidius. It is possible that this abbot is the historical figure at the basis of the legend of Saint Giles.[2]
There are two forgedPapal bulls purporting to have been issued byPope John VIII in 878.[2] Sometimes taken as authentic, they record that theVisigothic kingWamba founded a monastery for Giles and thatPope Benedict II granted a charter to this foundation in 684–685.[3][4] In actuality, the monastery was not dedicated to Saint Giles beforec. 910. The tomb of Giles dates to the correct historical period, but the inscription is from the 10th century.[2]
Giles is the subject of an elaborate and largely unhistorical anonymousLatin legend first attested in the 10th century.[3] He was aGreek,[5] and, according to theLegendae Aurea, he was the son of King Theodore and Queen Pelagia ofAthens.[6]
Although born in Athens,[7] Giles lived in retreats near the mouth of theRhône and by theRiver Gard inSeptimania in theVisigothic Kingdom. TheLegenda Aurea links him withArles, but finally he withdrew deep into the forest nearNîmes, where in the greatest solitude he spent many years, his sole companion being his beloved deer, orred deer, who in some stories sustained him on her milk.[8] Giles ate a Christian vegetarian diet.[9] This retreat was finally discovered by the king's hunters, who had pursued the deer to its place of refuge. An arrow shot at the deer wounded the saint instead, who afterwards became a patron of the physically disabled. The king, by legend, was Wamba, an anachronisticVisigoth, but must have been aFrank in the original story due to the historical setting.[10] He held the hermit in high esteem for his humility in rejecting all honours save having some disciples. Wamba built him a monastery in his valley, Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, which Giles placed under theBenedictine rule. He died there in the early part of the 8th century, with the highest repute for sanctity andmiracles.
A 10th-centuryVita sancti Aegidii recounts that, as Giles was celebrating Mass to pardon Emperor Charlemagne's sins, an angel deposited upon the altar a letter outlining a sin so terrible Charlemagne had never dared confess it. Several Latin and French texts, including theLegenda Aurea refer to this hidden "sin of Charlemagne". This legend, however, contradicts the well-established later dates for the life of Charlemagne (c. 742 – 28 January 814).
A later text, theLiber miraculorum sancti Aegidii ("The Book of Miracles of Saint Giles") served to reinforce the flow of pilgrims to the abbey.
The town ofSt-Gilles-du-Gard sprang up around theabbey allegedly founded by him in the 7th century. That abbey (which was rededicated to him in the 10th century) remained the centre of his cult, which was particularly strong inLanguedoc, even after a rival body of Saint Giles appeared atToulouse.[11]
His cult spread rapidly far and wide throughoutEurope in theMiddle Ages, as is witnessed by the churches and monasteries dedicated to him inFrance,Spain,Germany,Poland,Hungary,Slovakia, andGreat Britain; by the numerousmanuscripts in prose and verse commemorating his virtues and miracles; and especially by the vast concourse ofpilgrims who from all Europe flocked to his shrine. He was one of the most popular saints in the Middle Ages.[12]
In 1562, therelics of the saint were secretly transferred toToulouse to protect them from theHuguenots and the level ofpilgrimages declined. The restoration of most of the relics to the abbey of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard in 1862 and the publicized rediscovery of his former tomb there in 1865 helped the pilgrimages recommence.[13]
Saint Giles is thepatron saint ofpeople with disabilities and is also invoked as a saint for childhood fears, convulsions, depression, particularly inNormandy, for example inEure Iville,Saint-Germain-Village orBernay or inCalvados, Gilles Touques. In medieval art, he is depicted with his symbol, the hind (female deer).[13] His emblem is also anarrow. Giles is one of theFourteen Holy Helpers, and the only non-martyr, initially invoked as protection against theBlack Death. Hisfeast day is 1 September.
Besides Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, nineteen other cities bear his name. Cities that possess relics of St. Giles include Saint-Gilles, Toulouse and many other French cities;Antwerp,Brugge andTournai in Belgium;Cologne andBamberg in Germany (known asEgidien);Rome andBologna in Italy;[13]Prague in the Czech Republic; andEsztergom in Hungary. Giles is also thepatron saint ofEdinburgh, the capital of Scotland, whereSt. Giles' High Kirk is a prominent landmark. He is also the patron saint ofGraz,Nuremberg,Osnabrück,Sankt Gilgen,Brunswick,Wollaberg,Saint-Gilles (Brussels Capital Region),Sint-Gillis-Waas andPoprad. In 1630, the church ofSant'Egidio inTrastevere in Rome was dedicated to him, and which since 1968 has housed the layCommunity of Sant'Egidio.
The centuries-long presence ofCrusaders, many of them of French origin, left the name of Saint Giles in some locations in theMiddle East.Raymond of St Gilles lent his name toSt. Gilles Castle (Qala'at Sanjil) inTripoli, Lebanon.[14]
Giles of Provence isremembered in theChurch of England with acommemoration on 1 September.[15]
... consuming only vegetation, such as wild herbs and roots.
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