St Giles

Information about St Giles

Saint Giles

Detail of Saint Giles and the Hind, c. 1500, by the Master of Saint Gilles
Hermit, Holy Helper
Bornc. 650[1], Athens, Greece
Diedc. 710[1], Southern France
Feast1 September
Attributesarrow; crosier; hermitage; hind
Patronagebeggars; blacksmiths; breast cancer; breast feeding; cancer patients; cripples; disabled people; Edinburgh (Scotland); epilepsy; epileptics; fear of night; forests; handicapped people; hermits; horses; insanity; lepers; leprosy; mental illness; mentally ill people; noctiphobics; physically challenged people; paupers; poor people; rams; spur makers; sterility; woods


Saint Giles (Latin: Ægidius, French: Gilles, Italian: Egidio; c. 650 - c. 710) was a Christian hermit saint, 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.

Life

As a hermit Giles first lived in retreats near the mouth of the Rhône and by the River Gard, in Septimania, today's southern France. The story that he was the son of King Theodore and Queen Pelagia of Athens[2] is probably an embellishment of his early hagiographers; it was given wide currency in Legenda Aurea.

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.[3] 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 Visigoth, but who must have been (at least in the original story) a Frank due to the historical setting,[4] 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 miracles.

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".

A later text, Liber miraculorum sancti Aegidii ("Book of the miracles of Saint Giles") served to reinforce the flow of pilgrims to the abbey.

Legacy

Enlarge picture
Giles, depicted in the lower left with a hind, is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers
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.[5] His cult spread rapidly far and wide throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, as is witnessed by the numberless 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 Gran. 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.[6] Sanjil 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.[7]

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.

References

Footnotes

1. ^ "The West Portal of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard" by R.J. Gangewere, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, September/October 2003
2. ^ Compare the incipit of his early (12th century) vita in the Cologne Legendae Sanctorum , Dombibliothek Codex 167, fol. 97r-101v [1].
3. ^ Compare the mytheme of the doe nurturing Heracles' son Telephos.
4. ^ He is Charles in Legenda Aurea.
5. ^ 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
6. ^ "History of Lebanon", mountlebanon.org. See photo by Børre Ludvigsen, 1995 at almashriq.hiof.no
7. ^ "Condolence visits at Sanjil and Qalqilya" by Ya`acov Manor, kibush.co.il

See also

External links


 •  • [ e]
The Fourteen Holy Helpers
Master of Saint Gilles (French: Maître de Saint-Gilles) was a Franco-Flemish painter active, probably in Paris, about 1500, working in a delicate Late Gothic manner, with rendering of textures and light and faithful depictions of actual
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7th century · 8th century
620s 630s 640s 650s 660s 670s 680s
647 648 649 650 651 652 653
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Location

Coordinates Coordinates:
Time zone: EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Elevation (min-max): 70 - 338 m (0 - 0 ft)
Government
Country:
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Motto
Ελευθερία ή θάνατος
Eleftheria i thanatos  
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8th century - 9th century
680s  690s  700s  - 710s -  720s  730s  740s
707 708 709 - 710 - 711 712 713
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Southern France (or the South of France), colloquially known as Le Midi, is a loosely defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Gironde, Spain, the Mediterranean Sea, Italy, and Switzerland south of the
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The calendar is a traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year on the level of days by associating each day with one or more saints, and referring to the day as that saint's feast day.
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symbols from its very beginnings. Each saint has a story and a reason why he or she led an exemplary life. Symbols have been used to tell these stories throughout the history of the Church.
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arrow is a pointed projectile that is shot with a bow. It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.

Structure



A normal arrow consists of a shaft with an arrowhead attached to the front end, with fletchings and a nock at the other.
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This article is about an object used in Christian worship. For the Crosiers, as in the Crosier Fathers, see Canons Regular of the Holy Cross.

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Hermitage may refer to
  • Hermitage, a Hermit's dwelling place, a place of religious retreat
In places in Great Britain:
  • Hermitage, Berkshire, a village in England near Newbury
  • Hermitage, Dorset, a hamlet in England, near Sherborne

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Hind may refer to:
  • Republic of India, or parts of India, in ancient times. (See also Hindustan, Etymology of India)
  • Hind (singer), a Bahraini Pop Singer
  • Hindi, the most widely spoken language in India
  • Hindu, follower of Hinduism
  • The Mil Mi-24 helicopter

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patron saint of a particular group of people is a saint who has special affinity for that group and its members. Prayers by such people are considered more likely to be answered by their patron saint.
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Begging is the practice whereby a person obtains money, food, shelter or other things from people they encounter by request. It is also referred to as sponging, spanging (short for "spare-changing") or (in American English) panhandling.
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blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by "forging" the metal; i.e., by using hand tools to hammer, bend, cut, and otherwise shape it in its non-liquid form. Usually the metal is heated until it glows red or orange as part of the forging process.
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Breast cancer
Classification & external resources

Histopathologic image from ductal cell carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of breast. Hematoxylin-eosin stain.
ICD-10 C 50.
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Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with milk from a woman's breasts. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and milk.

With few exceptions, human breast milk is the best source of nourishment for human infants.
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Although every disease has its patients, to be a cancer patient has a very specific meaning, both to the patients and their relatives and the general public. Often, there is a large amount of misunderstanding surrounding cancer diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.
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disability is a condition or function judged to be significantly impaired relative to the usual standard of an individual or their group. The term is often used to refer to individual functioning, including physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual
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Edinburgh
Gaelic - Dùn Èideann
Scots - Edinburgh[1]
Auld Reekie, Athens of the North


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Epilepsy
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 G 40. -G 41.
ICD-9 345

DiseasesDB 4366
MedlinePlus 000694
eMedicine neuro/415  
MeSH D004827

Epilepsy
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FOREST (an acronym for "Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco") is a United Kingdom political pressure group that campaigns for the right of people to smoke tobacco and opposes attempts to ban or reduce tobacco consumption.
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hermit (from the Greek ἔρημος erēmos, signifying "desert", "uninhabited", hence "desert-dweller"; adjective: "eremitic") is a person who lives to some greater or lesser degree in seclusion and/or isolation
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H.O.R.S.E. is a form of poker commonly played at the high stakes tables of casinos. It consists of rounds of play cycling among:
  • Texas Hold 'em,
  • Omaha eight or better,
  • Razz,
  • Seven card Stud, and
  • Seven card stud E

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Insanity, or madness, is a general popular and legal term defining behaviour influenced by mental instability. It is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a deranged state of the mind or lack of understanding.
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Leprosy
Classification & external resources

A 24-year-old man infected with leprosy.
ICD-10 A 30.
ICD-9 030

OMIM 246300
DiseasesDB 8478
MedlinePlus 001347
eMedicine med/1281   derm/223 neuro/187

MeSH C01.252.410.040.
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MeSH D001523 Mental disorder or mental illness are terms used to refer a psychological or physiological pattern that occurs in an individual and is usually associated with distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture.
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For the fear or hatred of the Scottish, see .
Nyctophobia (from Greek νυξ nic-to-pho-bi-a: "night" and phobia, also called scotophobia, from σκότος - "darkness", lygophobia, from lyge
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