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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Giles</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06559a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Also known as Aegidius. Hermit and then abbot in late seventh-century Gaul"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="06559a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/g.htm">G</a> > St. Giles</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>St. Giles</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>(Latin Ægidius.)</p> <p>An Abbot, said to have been born of illustrious Athenian parentage about the middle of the seventh century. Early in life he devoted himself exclusively to spiritual things, but, finding his noble birth and high repute for <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">sanctity</a> in his native land an obstacle to his perfection, he passed over to <a href="../cathen/06395b.htm">Gaul</a>, where he established himself first in a wilderness near the mouth of the Rhone and later by the River Gard. But here again the fame of his <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">sanctity</a> drew multitudes to him, so he withdrew to a dense forest near <a href="../cathen/11083a.htm">Nîmes</a>, where in the greatest solitude he spent many years, his sole companion being a hind. This last retreat was finally discovered by the king's hunters, who had pursued the hind to its place of refuge. The king [who according to the legend was Wamba (or Flavius?), King of the <a href="../cathen/15476b.htm">Visigoths</a>, but who must have been a <a href="../cathen/06238a.htm">Frank</a>, since the <a href="../cathen/06238a.htm">Franks</a> had expelled the <a href="../cathen/15476b.htm">Visigoths</a> from the neighbourhood of <a href="../cathen/11083a.htm">Nîmes</a> almost a century and a half earlier] conceived a high esteem for solitary, and would have heaped every <a href="../cathen/07462a.htm">honour</a> upon him; but the <a href="../cathen/07543b.htm">humility</a> of the <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saint</a> was <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proof</a> against all <a href="../cathen/14504a.htm">temptations</a>. He consented, however, to receive thenceforth some disciples, and built a <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a> in his valley, which he placed under the <a href="../cathen/02436a.htm">rule of St. Benedict</a>. Here he died in the early part of the eighth century, with the highest repute for <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">sanctity</a> and <a href="../cathen/10338a.htm">miracles</a>.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>His cult spread rapidly far and wide throughout <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a> in the <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">Middle Ages</a>, as is witnessed by the numberless churches and <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a> dedicated to him in <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a>, <a href="../cathen/12181a.htm">Poland</a>, <a href="../cathen/07547a.htm">Hungary</a>, and the British Isles; by the numerous <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscripts</a> in prose and verse commemorating his virtues and <a href="../cathen/10338a.htm">miracles</a>; and especially by the vast concourse of <a href="../cathen/12085a.htm">pilgrims</a> who from all <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a> flocked to his shrine. In 1562 the <a href="../cathen/12734a.htm">relics</a> of the <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saint</a> were secretly transferred to <a href="../cathen/14795b.htm">Toulouse</a> to save them from the hideous excesses of the <a href="../cathen/07527b.htm">Huguenots</a> who were then ravaging <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, and the <a href="../cathen/12085a.htm">pilgrimage</a> in consequence declined. With the restoration of a great part of the <a href="../cathen/12734a.htm">relics</a> to the church of St. Giles in 1862, and the discovery of his former <a href="../cathen/14773b.htm">tomb</a> there in 1865, the <a href="../cathen/12085a.htm">pilgrimages</a> have recommenced. Besides the city of St-Gilles, which sprang up around the <a href="../cathen/01010a.htm">abbey</a>, nineteen other cities bear his name, St-Gilles, <a href="../cathen/14795b.htm">Toulouse</a>, and a multitude of French cities, <a href="../cathen/01588e.htm">Antwerp</a>, Bridges, and Tournai in <a href="../cathen/02395a.htm">Belgium</a>, <a href="../cathen/04116a.htm">Cologne</a> and Bamberg, in <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a>, <a href="../cathen/12338a.htm">Prague</a> and Gran in <a href="../cathen/02121b.htm">Austria-Hungary</a>, <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> and Bologna in <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a>, possess celebrated <a href="../cathen/12734a.htm">relics</a> of St. Giles. In <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">medieval</a> art he is a frequent subject, being always depicted with his symbol, the hind. His <a href="../cathen/06021b.htm">feast</a> is kept on 1 September. On this day there are also commemorated another St. Giles, an <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italian</a> <a href="../cathen/07280a.htm">hermit</a> of the tenth century (Acta SS., XLI, 305), and a Blessed Giles, d. about 1203, a <a href="../cathen/03780c.htm">Cistercian</a> <a href="../cathen/01015c.htm">abbot</a> of Castaneda in the <a href="../cathen/02018d.htm">Diocese of Astorga</a>, <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a> (op. cit. XLI, 308).</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Murphy, J.F.X.</span> <span id="apayear">(1909).</span> <span id="apaarticle">St. Giles.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06559a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Murphy, John F.X.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"St. Giles."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 6.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1909.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06559a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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