Saint Giles

Giles (Aegidius) lived in the late seventh and early eighth centuries. Medieval tradition says he was born in Athens, gave away his inheritance and sailed to Provence, where he lived as a hermit in a forest near the mouth of the Rhône. A hind, the story goes, kept him alive with her milk. When a royal hunting party shot an arrow at the animal, it struck Giles instead, and he refused treatment, accepting the wound as a share in Christ's suffering.

Moved by his holiness, the king helped him found a monastery, around which the town of Saint-Gilles grew. Giles died around 710. His tomb became a major pilgrimage stop on the road to Santiago de Compostela, and he was counted among the Fourteen Holy Helpers, invoked for healing and protection in medieval Europe.

Many churches across Europe bear his name, including St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, and medieval towns built hospitals and churches dedicated to him at their gates, where travelers and beggars gathered.

On September 1 the town of Saint-Gilles in southern France still honors his tomb, and pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago stop to pray there.