SAINT GILES
Abbot
(640-720)
St. Giles' name has been held in veneration for ages in France and England. He is said to have been an Athenian by birth, and a noble. His piety and learning drew admirers, which pushed him to retire from the vanities of the world. Hence he sought obscurity and mystical solitude.
Answering his call, St. Giles sailed to France, and chose a hermitage in the open deserts near the mouth of the Rhone, but transfering afterward to a site near the river Gard. Last of all, St. Giles settled in a forest in the diocese of Nismes. He passed many years in solitude, living on wild herbs, roots and water, and conversing only with God. We read in his life that he was for some time nourished with the milk of a hind in the forest, which, being pursued by hunters, fled for refuge to the Saint, who was thus discovered.
The miracles attributed to the intercession of St. Giles made his name ring throughout all France. He was even esteemed by the French king, who failed at making St. Giles renounce his solitude. St. Giles, however, admitted disciples, and settled excellent discipline in the monastery which he was the founder. In succeeding ages, his monastery became a flourishing abbey of the Benedictine Order.