Saint Giles (disambiguation)
Saint Giles, St Giles, or St Giles' may refer to:
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In the United Kingdom
Saint Giles
Saint Giles (English pronunciation: /dʒaɪlz/, gaɪlz; Latin: Aegidius; French: Gilles; c. 650 AD – c. 710), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a GreekChristian hermit saint from Athens, whose legend is centered in Provence and Septimania. The tomb in the abbey Giles was said to have founded, in Saint-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. He is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
Life
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 is probably an embellishment of his early hagiographers; it was given wide currency in the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend). The two main incidents in his life were often depicted in art.
His early history, as given in the 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 red deer, who in some stories sustained him on her milk. Giles ate a vegetarian diet. This 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, 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 Giles placed under the Benedictine rule. Here he died in the early part of the 8th century, with the highest repute for sanctity and miracles.
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