Saint Giles

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Saint Giles (disambiguation).
rams; spur makers; sterility
.

Saint Giles (

Way of Saint James. He is traditionally one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers
.

Historicity

The legend of Giles connects him to Caesarius of Arles, who died in 543. In 514, Caesarius sent a messenger, Messianus, to Pope 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 forged

Visigothic king Wamba founded a monastery for Giles and that Pope Benedict II granted a charter to this foundation in 684–685.[3][4] In actuality, the monastery was not dedicated to Saint Giles before about 910. The tomb of Giles dates to the correct historical period, but the inscription is from the 10th century.[2]

Legend

Giles is the subject of an elaborate and largely unhistorical anonymous Latin legend first attested in the 10th century.[3] He was a Greek,[5] and, according to the Legendae Aurea, he was the son of King Theodore and Queen Pelagia of Athens.[6]

Although born in Athens,

Benedictine rule. He died there in the early part of the 8th century, with the highest repute for sanctity and miracles
.

A 10th-century Vita 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 the Legenda Aurea refer to this hidden "sin of Charlemagne". This legend, however, contradicts the well-established later dates for the life of Charlemagne (approximately 742 – 28 January 814).

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.

Veneration

The town of

abbey allegedly founded by him in the 7th century. That abbey (which was re-dedicated to him in the 10th century) remained the centre of his cult, which was particularly strong in Languedoc, even after a rival body of Saint Giles appeared at Toulouse.[11]

His cult spread rapidly far and wide throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, as is witnessed by the 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.[citation needed]

In 1562, the

Huguenots and the level of pilgrimages 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.[12]

Saint Giles is the

feast 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;

Sankt Gilgen, Brunswick, Wollaberg, Saint-Gilles (Brussels Capital Region) and Sint-Gillis-Waas. In 1630, the church of Sant'Egidio in Trastevere in Rome was dedicated to him, and which since 1968 has housed the lay Community of Sant'Egidio
.

The centuries-long presence of

St. Gilles Castle (Qala'at Sanjil) in Tripoli, Lebanon.[13]

commemoration on 1 September.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "The West Portal of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard," Archived 2006-09-27 at the Wayback Machine by R. J. Gangewere, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, September/October 2003.
  2. ^ a b c J. Pycke, "(2) Gilles", in Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, Vol. 20 (1984): cols. 1352–1355.
  3. ^
    E. A. Livingstone
    , eds. (2009), "Giles, St", The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd rev. ed.), Oxford University Press.
  4. ^ Kriston R. Rennie, "The Normative Character of Monastic Exemption in the Early Medieval Latin West", Medieval Worlds 6 (2017): 61–77, at 69, n. 54.
  5. ^ Wyschogrod (1990), p. 27; Chaucer and Schmidt (1976), p. 161, Note #632.
  6. ^ Compare the incipit of his early (12th century) vita in the Cologne "Legendae Sanctorum," Dombibliothek Codex 167, fol. 97r-101v [1].
  7. ^ "Our Patron – Saint Giles - Saint Giles Catholic Parish". 2016-02-11. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
  8. ^ Compare the mytheme of the doe nurturing Heracles' son Telephus.
  9. ISBN 978-0-9754844-0-1
    . Retrieved 2010-12-09. ... consuming only vegetation, such as wild herbs and roots.
  10. ^ He is Charles in Legenda Aurea.
  11. ISBN 2-7089-3440-6
    .
  12. ^ a b c Murphy, John F.X. "St. Giles." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 24 Feb. 2015
  13. ^ "History of Lebanon" Archived 2008-03-16 at the Wayback Machine, mountlebanon.org. See photo by Børre Ludvigsen, 1995 at almashriq.hiof.no
  14. ^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Retrieved 2021-04-08.

Sources

External links
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