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'''Saint Giles''' ({{lang-el|Αιγίδιος}}, {{lang-la|Ægidius}}, {{lang-fr|Gilles}}, {{lang-it|Egidio}}, {{lang-es|Egidio}}, {{lang-ca|Gil}}; c. 650 - c. 710) was a [[Greeks|Greek]] [[Christian]] [[hermit]] [[saint]] from [[Athens]], whose legend is centered in [[Provence]] and [[Septimania]]. The tomb in the abbey Giles was said to have founded, in [[Saint-Gilles, Gard|St-Gilles-du-Gard]], became a place of pilgrimage and a stop on the road that led from [[Arles]] to [[Santiago de Compostela]], the pilgrim [[Way of St. James]]. He is one of the [[Fourteen Holy Helpers]]. |
'''Saint Giles''' ({{lang-el|Αιγίδιος}}, {{lang-la|Ægidius}}, {{lang-fr|Gilles}}, {{lang-it|Egidio}}, {{lang-es|Egidio}}, {{lang-ca|Gil}}; c. 650 - c. 710) was a [[Greeks|Greek]] [[Christian]] [[hermit]] [[saint]] from [[Athens]], whose legend is centered in [[Provence]] and [[Septimania]]. The tomb in the abbey Giles was said to have founded, in [[Saint-Gilles, Gard|St-Gilles-du-Gard]], became a place of pilgrimage and a stop on the road that led from [[Arles]] to [[Santiago de Compostela]], the pilgrim [[Way of St. James]]. He is one of the [[Fourteen Holy Helpers]]. |
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==Life== |
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As a hermit Giles first lived in retreats near the mouth of the [[Rhône River|Rhône]] and by the [[Gardon|River Gard]], in [[Septimania]], today's southern [[France]]. The story that he was the son of King Theodore and Queen Pelagia of [[Athens]]<ref>Compare the [[incipit]] of his early (12th century) ''[[vita]]'' in the Cologne ''"Legendae Sanctorum,"'' Dombibliothek Codex 167, fol. 97r-101v [http://www.ceec.uni-koeln.de/ceec-cgi/kleioc/0010/exec/katl/%22kn28-0167%22].</ref> is probably an embellishment of his early [[hagiography|hagiographers]]; it was given wide currency in the ''[[Legenda Aurea]].'' The two main incidents in his life were often depicted in art. |
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===The ''Miracle of Saint Giles''=== |
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His early history, as given in ''Legenda Aurea'', links him with [[Arles]], but finally he withdrew deep into the forest near [[Nîmes]], where in the greatest solitude he spent many years, his sole companion being a deer, or [[hind]], who in some stories sustained him on her milk.<ref>Compare the [[mytheme]] of the doe nurturing Heracles' son [[Telephos]].</ref> This last retreat was finally discovered by the king's hunters, who had pursued the hind to its place of refuge. An arrow shot at the deer wounded the saint instead, who afterwards became a patron of cripples. The king, who by legend was [[Wamba]], an anachronistic [[Visigoths|Visigoth]], but who must have been (at least in the original story) a [[Franks|Frank]] due to the historical setting,<ref>He is [[Charlemagne|Charles]] in ''Legenda Aurea''.</ref> conceived a high esteem for the hermit, whose humility rejected all honors save some disciples, and built him a [[monastery]] in his valley, [[Saint-Gilles-du-Gard]], which he placed under the [[Benedictine]] rule. Here Giles died in the early part of the eighth century, with the highest repute for sanctity and [[miracle]]s |
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===The ''Mass of Saint Giles''=== |
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An early source, a tenth-century ''Vita sancti Aegidii'' recounts that, as Giles was celebrating mass to pardon the 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 ''Legenda Aurea'' refer to this hidden "sin of Charlemagne". |
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A later text, the ''"Liber miraculorum sancti Aegidii"'' ("The Book of miracles of Saint Giles") served to reinforce the flow of pilgrims to the abbey. |
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==Veneration== |
==Veneration== |
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Revision as of 21:32, 29 April 2009
Saint Giles | |
|---|---|
 Detail of "Saint Giles and the Hind," by the Master of Saint Giles c. 1500 | |
| Abbot | |
| Born | c. 650[1] Athens, Greece |
| Died | c. 710[1] Septimania (Languedoc, Southern France) |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Major shrine | St. Giles' Cathedral (Edinburgh, Scotland) |
| Feast | September 1 |
| Attributes | arrow; crosier; hermitage; hind |
| Patronage | beggars; blacksmiths; breast cancer; breast feeding; cancer patients; disabled people; Edinburgh (Scotland); epilepsy; fear of night; forests; hermits; horses; lepers; mental illness; noctiphobics; outcasts; poor peoples; rams; spur makers; sterility; |
Saint Giles (Greek: Αιγίδιος, Latin: Ægidius, French: Gilles, Italian: Egidio, Spanish: Egidio, Catalan: Gil; c. 650 - c. 710) was a Greek Christian hermit saint from Athens, whose legend is centered in Provence and Septimania. The tomb in the abbey Giles was said to have founded, in St-Gilles-du-Gard, became a place of pilgrimage and a stop on the road that led from Arles to Santiago de Compostela, the pilgrim Way of St. James. He is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
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Veneration
Around his tomb in the abbey sprang up the town of St-Gilles-du-Gard. The abbey remained the center of his cult, which was particularly strong in Languedoc, even after a rival body of Saint Giles appeared at Toulouse.[2] His cult spread rapidly far and wide throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, as is witnessed by the countless churches and monasteries dedicated to him in France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Great Britain; by the numerous manuscripts in prose and verse commemorating his virtues and miracles; and especially by the vast concourse of pilgrims who from all Europe flocked to his shrine.
In 1562 the relics of the saint were secretly transferred to Toulouse to save them from the anger of the Huguenots and the level of pilgrimages declined. With the restoration of a great part of the relics to the abbey of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard in 1862, and the publicized rediscovery of his former tomb there in 1865, the pilgrimages recommenced.
Besides Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, nineteen other cities bear his name. Cities that possess relics of St. Giles include Saint-Gilles, Toulouse and a multitude of other French cities, Antwerp, Brugge and Tournai in Belgium, Cologne and Bamberg in Germany, Rome and Bologna in Italy, Prague and Esztergom. The lay Community of Sant'Egidio is named after his church in Rome, Sant'Egidio. Giles is also the patron saint of Edinburgh, Scotland, where St. Giles' Cathedral is a prominent landmark.
The centuries-long presence of Crusaders, many of them of French origin, left the name of Saint Giles in some locations in the Middle East. Raymond of St Gilles lent his name to St. Gilles Castle (Arabic: Qala’at Sanjil) in Tripoli, Lebanon.[3] Sinjil is also a West Bank Palestinian village, which came to prominence in 2005 when several of its inhabitants were killed in a shooting spree by an Israeli settler.[4]
In medieval art he is depicted with his symbol, the hind. His emblem is also an arrow, and he is the patron saint of cripples. Giles is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and the only non-martyr, initially invoked as protection against the Black Death. His feast day is September 1.
The Master of Saint Gilles is an anonymous Late Gothic painter. The artist was given the title as the first work attributed to him were two works with Saint Giles as the subject now in the National Gallery, London.
The fifth book in the Brother Cadfael murder mystery series by Ellis Peters is titled The Leper of Saint Giles, set partly in the 'hospital' and chapel of St Giles founded by the monks of Shrewsbury Abbey half a mile from their own enclave. That chapel is now a parish church in its own right, retaining a Norman doorway and a 12th century south wall with a piscina.
References
- ^ a b "The West Portal of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard," by R.J. Gangewere, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, September/October 2003
- ^ Pierre-Gilles Girault, 2002. "Observations sur le culte de saint Gilles dans le Midi", in Hagiographie et culte des saints en France méridionale (XIIIe-XVe siècle), Cahiers de Fanjeaux 37, pp. 431-454
- ^ "History of Lebanon", mountlebanon.org. See photo by Børre Ludvigsen, 1995 at almashriq.hiof.no
- ^ "Condolence visits at Sanjil and Qalqilya" by Ya`acov Manor, kibush.co.il
- Vita sancti Aegidii (Acta sanctorum, 9 September, 299-304)
- Legenda Aurea, 130: Sanctus Egidius (On-line text, in Caxton's translation)
See also
External links
- Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Giles
- The Carnegie Museum of Art: St. Gilles
- Eric White, "Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Gilles"
- Regordane Info - The independent portal for The Regordane Way or St Gilles Trail, which commences at St-Gilles-du-Gard. Template:En icon and Template:Fr icon
- St. Gilles Castle, Tripoli, Lebanon
