unless otherwise stated.
Saint Giles.
Abbot.
Feast Day 1 September.
Simple.
White Vestments.
English: Stained-Glass Window depicting
Saint Giles. Parish Church of Notre-Dame-des-Marais,
La Ferte-Bernard, Sarthe, Pays de la Loire, France.
Deutsch: Katholische Pfarrkirche Notre-Dame-des-Marais
in La Ferté-Bernard im Département Sarthe (Pays de la Loire/Frankreich), Bleiglasfenster (baie 10), mit
Fragmenten aus dem späten 15., dem 16. und dem
frühen 17. Jahrhundert; Darstellung: Szenen aus
dem Leben Jesu und Marias; Ausschnitt: Hl. Ägidius.
Photo: 15 August 2015.
Source: Own work.
Author: GFreihalter
(Wikimedia Commons)
English: “Saint Giles and the Hind”.
Church of Saint Giles, Marsaneix, Dordogne, France.
Français: Saint-Gilles, église Saint-Gilles, Marsaneix, Dordogne, France.
Photo: 3 November 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Père Igor
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint Giles, born in Athens, distributed all his patrimony to The Poor and followed Jesus (Gospel). Several Miracles having made him celebrated, he fled to Provence, France, to escape away from honours. He lived in Prayer and Meditation (Introit) in the depths of a vast forest, with no other food but roots and the milk of a tame Hind.
One day, when pursued by the hounds of the Visigoth King, Wamba, The Hind fled to the grotto of the Saint, who, while trying to protect her, had his hand pierced by an arrow. The King, on his arrival, urgently begged the Saint to consent to the building of a Monastery on the spot.
English: Parish Church of Saint Giles,
Dietfurt, Bavaria, Germany.
Deutsch: Stadtpfarrkirche St. Ägidius
(Dietfurt a. d. Altmühl).
Date: 11 September 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: A. Reinsch (Unteroktav).
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Holy Hermit undertook its governance and, like Moses among The People of God (Epistle), he became The Chief and Law-Giver of a numerous Monastic family which followed his leadership, his Doctrine, and his Counsels (Communion). This happened in 673 A.D.
The Abbey of Saint Giles, a marvel of architecture, became one of the most frequented resorts of Pilgrims in The Middles Ages, and a Town arose there. The Counts of Toulouse regarded it as an honour to bear this Saint's name.
The ancient Missals place him among "The Fourteen Auxiliary Saints". He was invoked in France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, and England, where 146 Churches were built in his honour. Saint Giles died about 721 A.D. His tomb was discovered in 1865.
Mass: Os justi.
Commemoration: The Holy Twelve Brothers. Martyrs.
THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL
THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL
Available (in U.K.) from
Available (in U.S.A.) from
Available (in Ireland) from
Thank you, Zephyrinus, for this vignette of one of the [today often overlooked] ancient “14 Holy Helpers,” St. Giles (d. ca. 721) (“Gilles”, French; “Egidio,” or “Gil,” Italian and Spanish; “Agidii,” German). This reader is particularly fond of S. Giles and the pious tradition of Giles the Athenian, fleeing Greece and seeking out a hermit life in Provence (much like S. Mary Magdalene in her later life after the Resurrection); Then, there being tended by a hind or doe deer, there is the touching story of how on account of the deer, which he protected, he accordingly was inadvertently wounded by the hunters of the Visigoth king. The tradition of a holy and charitable hermit of whom Dom Gueranger says spent his entire time in prayer and penance for sinners, is an inspiring story. (Part 1, comment by Dante P)
ReplyDelete(Cont. part II) Unfortunately, these long-preserved pious beliefs were quite impugned, often being given “legend” status by the Vatican II-era types as though they were fables, and S. Giles was dropped in 1969 from
ReplyDeleteThe General Roman Calendar. (Always a curiosity how S. Giles’ tradition and those of many other traditional Catholic saints were dispensed as “fable” by the select group of Vatican II “experts,” but Eucharistic Prayer II being presented as “The Anaphora of S. Hippolytus” [d. 236], heavens no, that could not be considered a “fable.”)
Nonetheless, S. Giles’ Abbey (“S. Gilles du Gard”) in Occitania, as Zephyrinus no doubt knows, the original burial site of S. Giles, survives as a shrine of pilgrimage to this day, as no doubt Zephyrinus has chronicled. It is a restored and most impressive French Romanesque sanctuary having three great portaled arches in its facade greeting the pilgrim in solid stone framed by Corinthian columns. The ancient abbey church architecture dates from at least the 11th C., and the original church was double the present surviving length of roughly 50 m. The church went through extensive restoration in 2017-2018 and the 11th C. stone carvings of the saints both in the facade and interior and crypt pilgrims say are well worth the visit. The grounds outside the church still show the ruins of the massive stone original great choir. (cont., comment by Dante P)
(Part III, cont.) great portaled arches in its facade greeting the pilgrim in solid stone framed by Corinthian columns. The ancient abbey church architecture dates from at least the 11th C., and the original church was double the present surviving length of roughly 50 m. The church went through extensive restoration in 2017-2018 and the 11th C. stone carvings of the saints both in the facade and interior and crypt pilgrims say are well worth the visit. The grounds outside the church still show the ruins of the massive stone original great choir.
ReplyDeleteDuring the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598), as Zephyrinus notes, the relics of S. Giles were removed to the Basilica of S. Sernin in Toulouse, where they are today venerated in the Great Crypt of the church along with several other ancient holy relics. There is actually a YouTube tour entitled “Crypte de la basilique Saint-Sernin à Toulouse”
- “Relics of the True Cross and the Apostles” (4:35) which takes the pilgrim to the holy relics reserved there including “S. Gilles” altar where the casket is honored (cf 2:50 approx.).
[ Prayer to S. Giles] “O God, we beseech Thee to grant us through the merits and intercession of St. Giles to flee from the vanity and praise of this world, to avoid carefully all occasions of sin, to cleanse our hearts from all wickedness by a sincere confession, to leave this world in Thy love and rich in good works, and to find Thee gracious on the day of judgment. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
(Comment, End, by Dante P)
A magnificent contribution on Saint Giles from our Mediæval Historical and Liturgical Correspondent, Dante P, for which we are truly grateful.
ReplyDeleteThe points made by Dante P are well-worth re-reading and remembering.
Especially the outstanding Prayer to Saint Giles, which is recommended to be added to one's Daily Prayer List.
Saint Giles. Ora Pro Nobis.