Saint Gildas the Wise

Gildas was born in Britain around 500, probably in the north, and was educated in a monastic school in Wales, possibly under Saint Illtud. Known for his learning and strict life, he is remembered above all for his book On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain, written around 540. In it he recounts the history of the Britons and sternly rebukes their kings and clergy for their sins, which he saw as the cause of the invasions that were devastating the land. It is one of the few written sources for that dark period.

According to his later Lives, Gildas traveled to Ireland to help renew the Church there and then crossed to Brittany, where he founded a monastery at Rhuys, on the Gulf of Morbihan. Disciples gathered around him and he spent his last years in prayer and in guiding others. He died around 570.

The village of Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys in Brittany grew up around his abbey, where his relics are still honored, and Breton Catholics invoke him especially for help against fevers and for those bitten by rabid dogs. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on January 29.