September 1: Saint Giles, Abbot

A hermit and founder of a religious community

Historical information about the life of Saint Giles is rather scarce. According to some sources, he was born in Athens at the beginning of the 7th century and later moved to Provence, where he founded a monastery near Arles and became its abbot.

He spent much of his life as a hermit in Provence, where he is known as Saint Gilles. He lived in a cave together with a doe that nourished him with her milk. A significant event marked his life: during a hunting expedition, while trying to protect the doe, Giles was struck by an arrow and suffered a serious injury that left him disabled. The perpetrator of the accident was a Visigoth king who, deeply moved by the hermit’s generosity and courage, decided to donate to him the land on which his monastery was later built.

Even today, the details of this story are reflected in representations of the saint: he appears as an old man with a long beard, dressed in monastic habit and holding a pastoral staff, always accompanied by the doe. The arrow that struck him is sometimes also depicted.

Following the fame he gained through this episode, he was invited to the French court, and from there his reputation as a healer spread throughout Europe. He likely died in the year 725 and the monastery took his name, becoming established as the Abbey of Saint-Gilles.

Saint Giles is still venerated by the Church as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and is invoked particularly against panic attacks and mental disorders. His sanctity and the miracles attributed to his intercession contributed to the dissemination of his relics, especially in churches connected to hospitals.

At the end of the 9th century, a basilica was built on the site where Saint Giles’s crypt stood. It was believed that the saint’s body was kept there, inside a tomb dating from the Merovingian era. The area, located in the region of Nîmes, thus took the name of Saint Gilles du Gard. The abbey dedicated to Saint Giles became a popular pilgrimage destination, especially in the 10th century. During the Middle Ages, the saint’s cult also spread to Eastern Europe — particularly to Slovakia, Hungary, and Transylvania — thanks to settlers from France, Belgium (Wallonia), and Saxony.