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Saint Giles

detail of a stained glass window of Saint Giles, date and artist unknown; Church of Saint Silyn, Wrecsam, Wales; photographed on 17 February 2017 by Llywelyn2000; swiped from Wikimedia CommonsAlso known as

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Born to a wealthy noble family, when his parents died, Giles gave his fortune to help the poor. Known as a worker. To avoid followers and adulation, he left Greece c.683 for France where he lived as a hermit in a cave in the of Nimes, a cave whose mouth was guarded by a thick thorn bush, and a lifestyle so impoverished that, legend says, God sent a to Giles to nourish him with her milk.

One day after he had lived there for several years in meditation, a royal hunting party chased the hind into Giles’ cave. One hunter shot an into the thorn bush, hoping to hit the , but instead hit Giles in the leg, crippling him. The king sent doctors to care for hermit‘s wound, and though Giles begged to be left alone, the king came often to see him.

From this, Gile’s fame as sage and worker spread, and would-be followers gathered near the cave. The French king, because of his admiration, built the of Saint Gilles du Gard for these followers, and Giles became its first , establishing his own discipline there. A small town grew up around the , and upon Giles’ death, his became a and place of pilgrimage; the later became a Benedictine house.

The combination of the town, , and pilgrims led to many handicapped beggars hoping for ; this and Giles’ insistence that he wished to live outside the walls of the city, and his own damaged leg, led to his patronage of beggars, and to cripples since begging was the only source of income for many. Hospitals and safe houses for the poor, crippled, and leprous were constructed in England and Scotland, and were built so cripples could reach them easily. On their passage to Tyburn for execution, convicts were allowed to stop at Saint Giles’ Hospital where they were presented with a bowl of ale called Saint Giles’ Bowl, “thereof to drink at their pleasure, as their last refreshing in this life.”

In Spain, shepherds consider Giles the protector of rams. It was formerly the custom to wash the rams and colour their wool a bright shade on Giles’ feast day, tie lighted candles to their horns, and bring the animals down the mountain paths to the chapels and churches to have them blessed. Among the Basques, the shepherds come down from the Pyrenees on 1 September, attired in full costume, sheepskin coats, staves, and crooks, to attend Mass with their best rams, an event that marks the beginning of autumn festivals, marked by processions and dancing in the fields. One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, the only one not to die as a martyr.

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