September 1 + Saint Giles

For a number of centuries, Giles was one of the most popular saints in the Church. He was among the 14 Holy Helpers — saints invoked for the protection against the plague.

Giles was born in Athens, Greece in the seventh century. Tradition holds that as a young man, he cured a beggar when he gave him his cloak. His piety, learning and miracles made him an object of such admiration in his own country that, dreading praise and longing for a hidden life, he left his home and went to France. At first he took up his abode in a wilderness near the mouth of the Rhone River, afterward near the River Gard, and finally, in the diocese of Nimes.

He spent many years in solitude conversing only with God. He lived in such isolation that God sent a deer to nourish him with her milk. When the French king was hunting in the forest, his party found the deer and pursued it until it hid in Giles’ cave. The cave was covered by brush, and the hunters shot arrows into the obscured opening, trying to hit the deer. But an arrow struck Giles in the knee instead.

The king expressed remorse and promised to send his physician to care for Giles. So that he might better mortify the flesh, Giles refused to have the knee treated and he remained disabled for life. The King greatly esteemed the holy hermit and gave him land on which to build a monastery which became the large and flourishing Abbey of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard. Giles’ story spread rapidly far and wide during the Middle Ages, as is witnessed by the countless churches and monasteries dedicated to him throughout Europe.

Because of his lameness, St. Giles became the patron saint of the handicapped, of those with a disability or who are fighting cancer.