However, the rights and
privileges
of that
abbeywerefrequentlyinfringeduponbytheCountsofToulouse.
abbeywerefrequentlyinfringeduponbytheCountsofToulouse.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v9
On seeing this, the servant of God gave thanks for that favour, and having celebrated the holy function, he laid the scroll before the King, who then acknowledged that crime.
Falling at the saint's feet, he asked prayers to be offered.
The holy Abbot then admonished him never to relapse into the same crime, and
King,
Angel appeared,
fully
laics, then too ruthlessly exercised. In 685,3
26
at the age of fifty-one, and he was buried in the Church of St. Denis. See Henri Mar-
"
Histoire de France," tome ii. , pre- miere partie, liv. xi. , p. 217.
It seems very probable, that the fame of
his virtues, and a desire for his security, impelled the French monarch to extend that tin's invitation to St. . ^gidius, and that it took
place in the year 719 or 720.
a? Mons. Guizot further remarks : " Dans
les expeditions de Charles-Martel, ils avaint parcouru, a so. suite, la Gaule toute entire : la France romaine cecla a l'ascendant de la France germaine ; les rois de la France romaine nc purent se soutenir en face deces
29 This was probably a formula in the old Gallic Missal,
3° This was probably in the year 721 or
722, when Eudes, Duke of Aquitain, had routed the Saracens with great slaughter, in
a battle fought near Toulouse, when a part of the Septimania was recovered from them, See Michelet's" Histoire de France," tomei. , liv. ii. , chap, ii. , pp. 301, 302.
3I Natalis Alexander has placed theacces- sion to the Pontificate of Benedict II. at the 20th of August, 684, and after a term ofonly eight months and seventeen days he died the year following. See " Historia Eccle- siastlca Veteris Novique Testamenti," tomus
chefs d—e guerriers venus encore des rives du "
Rhin. Essaissur l'Histoire de France. "
Troisiemc Essai. Des Causes de la Chute
des Meiovingiens et des Carlovingiens, p. 77.
28
The earlier part of Charles Martel's career was stained with many and grievous crimes, for which he made amends towards the close of his life. I laving subjected many
States to the Empire of the Franks, he died xii. Saeculi Septimi Synopsis, cap. i. , of fever on the 22nd of October, A. D. 741, art. vi. , p. 10.
September i. l LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 15
of Christ accepted, and declared exempt for the future from all episcopal
jurisdiction that property which he possessed. 32
The immunities thus sought were obtained from the Sovereign Pontiff,
andtheholyAbbotreturnedtoGaul. Thetroublesforeseenafterwardsfell on its southern territories. The Saracens 33 had entered Europe in 711, 34
and had extended their conquests over Spain. In 712 and succeeding years, with great fury their hordes had crossed the Pyrenees into Gaul. 35 The people in alarm saw their towns, castles and monasteries demolished and plundered, while they were powerless to prevent such ravages. Among the rest, who fled for their safety, was St. ^Egidius with his band of religious. Taking with them their relics and sacred vessels, they set out for Orleans, and placed themselves under the protection of Charles Martel. However, their exile was of short duration. Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine, took upon himself to oppose the fanatical invaders, and his efforts were crowned with success.
CHAPTER III.
EXPULSION OF THE SARACENS—REBUILDING OF HIS MONASTERY BY ST. /<EGIDIUS—HIS DEATH—THE CHURCH, MONASTERY, AND SHRINE AT SAINT-GILLES—VENERATION FOR THE HOLY ABBOT IN FRANCE AND ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE—VENERA- TION FOR HIS MEMORY IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS AND CHURCHES DEDICATED TO ST. GILES—COMMEMORATION OF HIS FESTIVAL IN THE CALENDARS—CONCLUSION.
When the Saracens had been driven the 1 St. Gilles and beyond Pyrenees,
his monks returned, but only to find their monastery in ruins. At this doleful sight, the holy Abbot was greatly distressed, but he prayed the Almighty to give him courage for the work of restoration. Soon the church, cloister, and monastery were raised to their former noble proportions.
The saint had now attained a very advanced age, and the term for his
sojourn on earth was drawing rapidly to a close. With Holy Simeon, he could repeat the canticle, " Nunc dimittis servum timm. "2 Having regulated
the monastic affairs, and receiving a heavenly admonition regarding his approaching dissolution, he asked the monks to pray for him. Towards
midnight, and on a Sunday, the 1st day of September, about a. d. 720,3 his
Mahammed and his Successors, to the Death
ofAbdulmelic,theEleventhCaliph. The author did not live to complete—as he had intended—their European invasions,
35 See an account of this invasion of El Frandjat, as the Mussulmans denominated France, in Henri Martin's "Histoire de France," tome ii. , premiere partie, liv. xi. ,
*
The first invasion of France by the Saracens was that conducted found in Natalis Alexander's " Historia by Alhorr, a. d. 718. Eudes, Duke of
32 The Bull of Benedict II. is to be found in the parochial archives of Saint-Gilles. Pope John VIII. , in a Bull, addressed to Leo, Abbot of St. Gilles' Monastery, and dated July 21st, 878, affirms moreover he
found that act of donation in the Vatican "
archives. See Les Petits Bollandistes," Vies des Saints," tome x. , premier jour de Septembre, p. 404 and n. 1.
pp. 191 to 217. — Chapter hi.
33 An but account of interesting, abridged
Mahomet, his career, and doctrines, is to be
Ecclesiastica Veteris Novique Testamenti,"
tomus xii. Sseculi Septimi Synopsis, cap. ii. , Art. ii. , pp. 31 to 38.
34 Their previous conquests in Asia and Africa are very lucidly set forth in that most instructive and readable work of Washington Irving, "Mahomet and his Successors," in two handsome illustrated volumes, published
Aquitain, had then usurped the authority, and even the title, of King, in the southern
provinces of France, and he repelled their first invasion, when Zama, lieutenant of the caliph, lost his army and his life, under the walls of Toulouse. See Edward Gibbon's "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," vol. vi. , chap, lii. , p. 385.
ii. , 29.
3 Father Stilting considers his death should
be before the second invasion of the Saracens,
by Putnam, New York and in London, 188 1, "
2 St. Luke
sm. 410. Also, in Simon Ockley's History of the Saracens," comprising the Lives of
i6 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September i
soul was received into Heaven, and the faithful then heard a choir of angels welcomehimtotheirhappycompany. Heisreputedtohavebeeneighty- three years old at the time of his departure. 4 Other writers, who have incorrectly assigned him to the time of St. Caesarius, have placed his death about the middle of the sixth century. s
The body of St. Giles was buried in a plain stone coffin, and soon his place
became the of 6 However, in or about a. d. object frequent pilgrimages.
while some of his bones and a — of iron— portion
supposed
925,7
to have been the
arrow-head that pierced his hand were left in the original sarcophagus, it is
stated his remains were translated, on the 15th of June, to a shrine, artistically
8
Reverence for his memory, and the establishment of his monastic institute, drew numbers to St. Gilles, and it soon grew into a considerable
9 Notwithstanding the traditional exemption of the abbey from episcopal jurisdiction; yet,atdifferenttimesthishadbeenassumed,andaDiplomaof
bishop's successor, Isnardus. " Hence arose a controversy between Gilbert, Bishop of Nimes, and Leo, Abbot of St. ^Egidius, before the Sovereign Pontiff in 878, when Pope John VIII. 12 came into Gaul, and remained for some
x
time at Aries. This cause was decided in favour of the Abbot. 3 So early
as 1044, the pilgrimage to the Shrine of Saint-Gilles was regarded as one of
the most celebrated in the world.
Congregation, or Order of Cluny, * which caused great contention between the respective abbots; but Pope Innocent II. decided in 1 132, that such dependence should cease, and that thenceforth the religious of St. Giles
should have liberty to elect their own ab—bots. 15
wrought.
city.
10
such exercise of right over it. Even Pope Nicholas confirmed this to that
Ludovicus Pius exists,
in which he grants to Christianus, Bishop of Nimes,
The great abbey church of St. Gilles
who took possession of all Septimania in the year 725.
designated the Lower Church, on a
place. In 1 1 16, a new church was dedicated
tohim. Thisbeautifulstructurewasamong
the in until in and greatest France, 1562
1622, when it was reduced to a heap of ruins, during the Calvinist wars. It seems to have been in that church, the body of St. ^igidius had been kept to the time of those disturbances.
9 In old documents it is called Fanum S. /Egidii, and at the present time, in France, it is named Saint-Gilles.
" Vies des Saints," tome x. , premier jour de Septem-
bre, pp. 404, 405.
5 The Maurists, in " Histoire Literaire de la
France," state that he died about the year 547. See tome iii. , p. 244.
* See Les Petits
Bollandistes,
6
Before the ninth century, his veneration
as Patron was recognised in the Monastery of Saint-Gilles, as we read from a Council
" 10 of Aix-la-Chapelle, held A. D. 817 : Monas-
terium Sancti ^Egidii in Valle Flaviana. "— Labbe, "Concilia," tomus vii. , col. 1514. This veneration probably extended at that time over the whole of Nismes diocese, and
See "Gallia Christiana," tomus vi. , col.
the districts of through adjoining
1 ' These matters be found in Baiuzius' may
Languedoc. 7 According to the writer in " Gallia Chris-
tiana," tomus vi , col. 483, during the year mentioned in the text, one Autulphus, or Antulphus, was Abbot at Saint-Gilles, and while he was incumbent, the sacred relics of the Patron were raised from the earth. For this account, Saxius is quoted, " in Pontificio Arelatensi. " while he cites a Breviarium S.
Iii, for such statement.
her John Stilting suspects, that besides
the church dedicated to St. Peter, there must have been at the time another still larger, and dedicated to the Patron at Saint-Gilles. To this latter the translation probably took
be excommunicated. See Labbeus, ciliorum," tomus ix. , col. 124.
"
Con-
1
In 1066, the Abbey was subjected to the
l65- "„
See "Historian Occitanioe, tomus 11. , inter Probationes, col. 10.
M He reigned from a. d. 872 to 882.
" Miscellaneorum," tomus vii. , p. 349. De Gestis Joannis VIII. However, the bishop still refused to accept this decision ; but the Pope wrote, that he should be mindful of his duty, and if he refused to do so, he must
14 In a provincial assembly held in the Monastery of St. Bausile, Nimes. See "Histoire Generale de Languedoc," tome ii. , liv. xiv. , sect, lvii. , p. 21 1.
«S However, the abbey of St. Gilles had to pay the costs of this process. See ibid. , liv,, xvii. sect. xx.
.
September i. I LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
level with the cloister—is thought to have been built in the eleventh century, having been consecrated by Pope Urban II. , in 1096, The west front is a master-piece of the Romanesque style, upon which every species of ornamental
16
decoration and rich sculpture seems to have been lavished.
Gregory VII. 17 reprehends Froterius II. , Bishop of Nimes, because he had assumed too much authority over the Abbey of St. ^Egidius. To many other
18
The upper church was begun on a scale ofgreat magnificence by Alphonso,^ son to Raymond IV. ,20
vicissitudes was this venerable institute subjected.
16. In 1 1 59, Pope Adrian IV. , Count of St. Gilles,21 in the year n 22
granted indulgences in favour of the church and monastery of Saint Gilles ; as did
2
also Pope Gregory IX. , 3 in 1233.
However, the rights and privileges of that
abbeywerefrequentlyinfringeduponbytheCountsofToulouse. Anage later the usages of the pilgrimage to Saint-Gilles were somewhat modified, as
24 ill the thirteenth century,25 disturbed the country around. 26 It is not well known, at what particular date the remains of ^Egidius had been translated to Toulouse. 2* In 1326, during the month of September, one hundred Belgian pilgrims arrived at St. Gilles, to ratify a clause in the treaty between Charles the Fair and the Flemish. In the year 1423, the head of St. iEgidius was kept within his church in a silver-gilt shrine. 28 What has become of this relic is unknown ; but Father Stilting thinks, it may not have
the
Albigenses,
" Handbook for Travellers n France," sect, vi. , Route 126, p. 508.
*l His Pontificate lasted from a. d. 1073 to 1085. An admirable narrative of his Ponti- ficate may be found in J. Voigt's History of
Gregory VII. , published at Weimar in 1813. It has been translated into French, under
16 See
Murray's
was to be the spirit of good, as Lucifer had
been the spirit of evil. They rejected the Old Testament and the history of the Crea-
tion, as given by Moses. They inveighed against the authority of the Church and its
ministers, as also, they rejected the Sacra-
"
et de son Siecle," issued in two octavo volumes, at Paris, in 1839.
the title,
Histoire du Pape Gregoire VII.
18 See in Catalogo Abbatum S. iEgidii,
u 26
in Gallia Christiana," tomus vi. , at col. 482.
'9 He was called Alphonse-Jourdain, because he had been baptized in the River Jordan. He died in the middle of April, a. d. 1 148, at the age of forty-five years. See "Histoire Generale de Languedoc," tome ii. , liv. xvii. , sect, lxxx. , p. 452.
20 He was son to Pons, Count of Toulouse, who died towards the end of 1060, or the commencement of the following year. See ibid. , notes, xxxii. , col. 2, p. 609.
21 This title he assumed, because this
Saussay adds,
of the diocese of Nimes was his first inheritance, and on account of his devotion to the holy patron. See ibid. , liv. xiv. ,
sect, ii. , p. 179.
22 He presided in the Chair of St. Peter,
from a. d. 1 1 54 to 1 159.
23 He ruled from a. d. 1227 to 1241.
24 These heretics of the twelfth century
portion
were so called, because their first assemblies
were held in the town of Albi. They held
that God had first created Lucifer and his
angels ; that having revolted against God,
Lucifer was banished from Heaven, and pro-
duced the visible world, with evils then But, nothing more seems to be known prevailing ; while to establish order in it, regarding that head, or the festival associated God created a second son, Jesus Christ, who with it.
ments. See L'Abbe Pluquet's naire des Heresies. "
"
Diction-
25 See an impartial account of the war
waged against the Albigenses, in Pere Vaissette's "Histoire du Languedoc," tome i.
Saussay remarks, that at this time, the
relics of St. ^Egidius, that had been pre-
served for many ages in his own monastery, were raised from the earth, and were found
to be incorrupt. Thence, they were trans- ferred to Toulouse, and deposited in the Church of St. Saturninus, with those of many
holy Apostles, Martyrs and Confessors.
"
condigno cultu hue usque in ara sui nominis arcaque preciosa obser-
vatur. "
2? Although Saussayrefers this Transla—tion
to the time of the — in Albigensian heresy
the twelfth or thirteenth century yet, the writers of "Gallia Christiana" state, it must have been so late as the sixteenth cen- tury or somewhat before, since Nicholas Ber- trand, who wrote in the beginning of that century, records as being in the possession of Toulouse, "corpus beati Egidii abbatis. " For this account De Gestis Tolosanorum, fol. 5, is quoted.
* 8 In a Manuscript Kalendar, brought to light by Chifilet, at the 2nd of July, there is an entry: "S. . /Egidii inventio Capitis. "
In 1074, Pope
B
1 8 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September i.
escaped destruction with other holy relics, and even the church itself, when
a
the Calvinists were in possession of Saint-Gilles, during the year i562. 9 At
Grado, a town in the Venicean province, and in the Collegiate Church of the Blessed Virgin, Gelenius states, that the head of the Abbot yEgidius was kept ;3° but, whether this is the head to which allusion has been made, or only a portion of it, is not known.
In the year 1538, the Abbey of St. Gilles, with many other houses,
31 See " Histoire Generate de
tome v. , lib. xxxvii. . sect, lxxii. , p. 159.
38 These disturbances commenced in 1559, during the reign of Francis II.
33 This was the term employed to designate the Calvinists as distinguished from the Lutherans. According to Henri Martin the word Huguenot, for which many bizarre derivations have been given, is traceable to
the German eidgenossen, meaning "allies
"
France," tome x. , Journal Ilistorique de Louis XIII. , p. xxvii.
39 It was saved from destruction at the period of the Revolution, through the in-
or "confederates. " The Genevan reformers
were named eigtiots, when they were allied
1
During the religious wars in France of the sixteenth
became secularized. 3
2 in
Duke of Usez attacked and occupied that city. 3 religiouswereobligedtoseekrefugeinProvence. Anexpeditionthatparted from Lyons, July 2nd, 1622, under the Duke d'Hallwin, on arriving in Lower Languedoc, again took possession of St. Gilles, from which the Reformers
were then driven. 37
When no longer tenable as a fortress, the Church of Saint-Gilles was
demolished by the Due de Rohan, in 1622. Some time afterwards, the wars between the Huguenots and Catholics ceased under Louis XIII. , King of France, and peace was established. 38
The old abbey was destroyed in the sixteenth century ; but a detached pile of the ruin remains. It contains a spiral staircase, called le Vis de St. Gilles,^ and it is remarkable as a fine specimen of masonry. The ancient church has been replaced by a structure of late date, but of greatly inferior
architecture.
The relics of the holy Abbot were preserved at St. Sernin, in Toulouse,40
a. d. 1562. There the Canons of the Collegiate Church of Saint-Gilles concealed them, while the disturbances and wars of that period prevailed. In 1865, the shrine of the saint, with his relics, had been discovered,41 and on the 22nd of October, 1867, that event was celebrated in a public manner, and with a religious ceremony, at which a great number of the faithful assisted. Since that time the pilgrimages, which had so long been interrupted, were resumed by the clergy, religious and others, whole parishes sending numerous
39 According to the writers of "Gallia toire de France," tome ix. , cinquieme
converted this church into a fortress. The Marechal de Damville34 besieged St. Gilles on the 2nd of June, 1570, however, and took possession of it in three days. 35 Again, in 1575, the
6
century,3
1562,
the
Huguenots33
Christiana," col. 506.
30 See " De Admiranda Colonise Magni-
tudine," p. 311. Cologne, 1634, 4to.
partie, liv. li. , p. 28. n. 2.
34 Appointed to the government of Lan- guedoc in 1563. See Pere G. Daniel's '* Histoire de France," tome viii. . Charles IX. , p. 484.
3S See " Histoire Generate de Languedoc," tome v. , liv. xxxix. , sect, lxvii. , p. 305.
36 See ibid. , liv. xl. , sect, xiii. , p. 341.
3? See ibid. , liv. xlii. , sect, lxii. , p. 530,
Languedoc,"
with a part of the German Swiss, who fluence of M. Michel, a lawyer of St.
desired to render themselves independent Gilles.
from the Duke of "
Savoy. Lescatholiques
A° See Rev. S. " Lives of Baring-Gould's
the Saints," vol. ix. , September I, p. 10.
4I An account of this may be seen in a
firent de ce nom une injure : les protestants en firent un titre de gloire et voulurent que huguenots signifiat ddfenseurs de la —race de Hugues Capet contre les Lorrains. "
" ['Invention du Tombeau de Saint-Gilles. "
" His-
In 162 1, the canons and
and sect. Ixxiv. , p. 538.
38 See Pere G. Daniel's
"
Histoire de
work of M. l'Abbc Trichaud.
Histoire de
September i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. r 9 bands to St. Gilles' shrine. His church had also attracted the attention and
2
admiration of tourists and archaeologists. '*
In a very remarkable manner, veneration for St. ^Egidius was introduced
at Leodium, a. d. 976,43 while Notger was its prelate. One Gorderan, from
Gallia Narbonensis, was accustomed to traverse the country with a bear and
an ape, with which he gave popular exhibitions. 44 However, in his old agt;,
having selected a place among the woods, and Latinized Publicus Mons,45 for a
station ; he then erected houses and cottages, where he received the poor
with hospitable care. Even robbers, who infested that country, flocked
thither to receive the devout man's exhortations, and frequently were they
thus induced to reform their lives. But, his work was not deemed to be
complete, until he had there erected a church to his patron, St. . /Egidius, for
the stranger had been a native of Saint-Gilles. Moreover, that humble man
had contrived to gather pious women,*6 to form a religious society, in those
houses he had built near the church. *? In that place, Goderan closed his
earthly career, and departed this life, venerated as a saint in popular
8
estimation. 4
So great was the veneration of the French for St. Gilles, that besides the
chief city in the Isle of Reunion, and which took its name from him, no less than eighteen other towns have a similar name throughout France. Between Peronne and Abbeville, in Picardy, a beautiful Gothic church has been erected to Saint-Gilles, near the ruins of Mount Saint-Quentin, which formerly had an oratory and altar dedicated to him. 49 In the forest of Ardennes, St. Theodore, Abbot over the monastery of St. Hubert, constructed a church in honour of St. ^Egidius, after the middle of the eleventh century. 5° With a desire to obtain some relic of the holy Abbot, Theodore made a pilgrimage to his tomb,andtookTroyesonhisway. Hereturned,havingobtainedthedesired relics. s1 From the Church of Saint-Gilles, divers relics of its
2 Among these may be mentioned the cathedral city of Strigonia,* St.
Saviour's," at Antwerp, in Lisbon, in Saint-Gilles of Bruges, Saint-Gilles of Paris, Saint-Gilles of Bamberg,s* Saint-Gilles-sur-Vic, Saint-Gilles of Noir- moutiers, Saint-Gilles of Vannes, Saint-Gilles of Saint-Omer,ss Avesne,
holy patron have been procured, and they were preserved in various churches and cities.
42 See Les Petits Bollandistes, "Vies des Saints," tome x. , premier jour de Septembre, pp. 405, 406.
43 See at this year, Fisenius, in " Historiae Ecclesire Leodiensis," lib. vii.
King,
Angel appeared,
fully
laics, then too ruthlessly exercised. In 685,3
26
at the age of fifty-one, and he was buried in the Church of St. Denis. See Henri Mar-
"
Histoire de France," tome ii. , pre- miere partie, liv. xi. , p. 217.
It seems very probable, that the fame of
his virtues, and a desire for his security, impelled the French monarch to extend that tin's invitation to St. . ^gidius, and that it took
place in the year 719 or 720.
a? Mons. Guizot further remarks : " Dans
les expeditions de Charles-Martel, ils avaint parcouru, a so. suite, la Gaule toute entire : la France romaine cecla a l'ascendant de la France germaine ; les rois de la France romaine nc purent se soutenir en face deces
29 This was probably a formula in the old Gallic Missal,
3° This was probably in the year 721 or
722, when Eudes, Duke of Aquitain, had routed the Saracens with great slaughter, in
a battle fought near Toulouse, when a part of the Septimania was recovered from them, See Michelet's" Histoire de France," tomei. , liv. ii. , chap, ii. , pp. 301, 302.
3I Natalis Alexander has placed theacces- sion to the Pontificate of Benedict II. at the 20th of August, 684, and after a term ofonly eight months and seventeen days he died the year following. See " Historia Eccle- siastlca Veteris Novique Testamenti," tomus
chefs d—e guerriers venus encore des rives du "
Rhin. Essaissur l'Histoire de France. "
Troisiemc Essai. Des Causes de la Chute
des Meiovingiens et des Carlovingiens, p. 77.
28
The earlier part of Charles Martel's career was stained with many and grievous crimes, for which he made amends towards the close of his life. I laving subjected many
States to the Empire of the Franks, he died xii. Saeculi Septimi Synopsis, cap. i. , of fever on the 22nd of October, A. D. 741, art. vi. , p. 10.
September i. l LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 15
of Christ accepted, and declared exempt for the future from all episcopal
jurisdiction that property which he possessed. 32
The immunities thus sought were obtained from the Sovereign Pontiff,
andtheholyAbbotreturnedtoGaul. Thetroublesforeseenafterwardsfell on its southern territories. The Saracens 33 had entered Europe in 711, 34
and had extended their conquests over Spain. In 712 and succeeding years, with great fury their hordes had crossed the Pyrenees into Gaul. 35 The people in alarm saw their towns, castles and monasteries demolished and plundered, while they were powerless to prevent such ravages. Among the rest, who fled for their safety, was St. ^Egidius with his band of religious. Taking with them their relics and sacred vessels, they set out for Orleans, and placed themselves under the protection of Charles Martel. However, their exile was of short duration. Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine, took upon himself to oppose the fanatical invaders, and his efforts were crowned with success.
CHAPTER III.
EXPULSION OF THE SARACENS—REBUILDING OF HIS MONASTERY BY ST. /<EGIDIUS—HIS DEATH—THE CHURCH, MONASTERY, AND SHRINE AT SAINT-GILLES—VENERATION FOR THE HOLY ABBOT IN FRANCE AND ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE—VENERA- TION FOR HIS MEMORY IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS AND CHURCHES DEDICATED TO ST. GILES—COMMEMORATION OF HIS FESTIVAL IN THE CALENDARS—CONCLUSION.
When the Saracens had been driven the 1 St. Gilles and beyond Pyrenees,
his monks returned, but only to find their monastery in ruins. At this doleful sight, the holy Abbot was greatly distressed, but he prayed the Almighty to give him courage for the work of restoration. Soon the church, cloister, and monastery were raised to their former noble proportions.
The saint had now attained a very advanced age, and the term for his
sojourn on earth was drawing rapidly to a close. With Holy Simeon, he could repeat the canticle, " Nunc dimittis servum timm. "2 Having regulated
the monastic affairs, and receiving a heavenly admonition regarding his approaching dissolution, he asked the monks to pray for him. Towards
midnight, and on a Sunday, the 1st day of September, about a. d. 720,3 his
Mahammed and his Successors, to the Death
ofAbdulmelic,theEleventhCaliph. The author did not live to complete—as he had intended—their European invasions,
35 See an account of this invasion of El Frandjat, as the Mussulmans denominated France, in Henri Martin's "Histoire de France," tome ii. , premiere partie, liv. xi. ,
*
The first invasion of France by the Saracens was that conducted found in Natalis Alexander's " Historia by Alhorr, a. d. 718. Eudes, Duke of
32 The Bull of Benedict II. is to be found in the parochial archives of Saint-Gilles. Pope John VIII. , in a Bull, addressed to Leo, Abbot of St. Gilles' Monastery, and dated July 21st, 878, affirms moreover he
found that act of donation in the Vatican "
archives. See Les Petits Bollandistes," Vies des Saints," tome x. , premier jour de Septembre, p. 404 and n. 1.
pp. 191 to 217. — Chapter hi.
33 An but account of interesting, abridged
Mahomet, his career, and doctrines, is to be
Ecclesiastica Veteris Novique Testamenti,"
tomus xii. Sseculi Septimi Synopsis, cap. ii. , Art. ii. , pp. 31 to 38.
34 Their previous conquests in Asia and Africa are very lucidly set forth in that most instructive and readable work of Washington Irving, "Mahomet and his Successors," in two handsome illustrated volumes, published
Aquitain, had then usurped the authority, and even the title, of King, in the southern
provinces of France, and he repelled their first invasion, when Zama, lieutenant of the caliph, lost his army and his life, under the walls of Toulouse. See Edward Gibbon's "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," vol. vi. , chap, lii. , p. 385.
ii. , 29.
3 Father Stilting considers his death should
be before the second invasion of the Saracens,
by Putnam, New York and in London, 188 1, "
2 St. Luke
sm. 410. Also, in Simon Ockley's History of the Saracens," comprising the Lives of
i6 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September i
soul was received into Heaven, and the faithful then heard a choir of angels welcomehimtotheirhappycompany. Heisreputedtohavebeeneighty- three years old at the time of his departure. 4 Other writers, who have incorrectly assigned him to the time of St. Caesarius, have placed his death about the middle of the sixth century. s
The body of St. Giles was buried in a plain stone coffin, and soon his place
became the of 6 However, in or about a. d. object frequent pilgrimages.
while some of his bones and a — of iron— portion
supposed
925,7
to have been the
arrow-head that pierced his hand were left in the original sarcophagus, it is
stated his remains were translated, on the 15th of June, to a shrine, artistically
8
Reverence for his memory, and the establishment of his monastic institute, drew numbers to St. Gilles, and it soon grew into a considerable
9 Notwithstanding the traditional exemption of the abbey from episcopal jurisdiction; yet,atdifferenttimesthishadbeenassumed,andaDiplomaof
bishop's successor, Isnardus. " Hence arose a controversy between Gilbert, Bishop of Nimes, and Leo, Abbot of St. ^Egidius, before the Sovereign Pontiff in 878, when Pope John VIII. 12 came into Gaul, and remained for some
x
time at Aries. This cause was decided in favour of the Abbot. 3 So early
as 1044, the pilgrimage to the Shrine of Saint-Gilles was regarded as one of
the most celebrated in the world.
Congregation, or Order of Cluny, * which caused great contention between the respective abbots; but Pope Innocent II. decided in 1 132, that such dependence should cease, and that thenceforth the religious of St. Giles
should have liberty to elect their own ab—bots. 15
wrought.
city.
10
such exercise of right over it. Even Pope Nicholas confirmed this to that
Ludovicus Pius exists,
in which he grants to Christianus, Bishop of Nimes,
The great abbey church of St. Gilles
who took possession of all Septimania in the year 725.
designated the Lower Church, on a
place. In 1 1 16, a new church was dedicated
tohim. Thisbeautifulstructurewasamong
the in until in and greatest France, 1562
1622, when it was reduced to a heap of ruins, during the Calvinist wars. It seems to have been in that church, the body of St. ^igidius had been kept to the time of those disturbances.
9 In old documents it is called Fanum S. /Egidii, and at the present time, in France, it is named Saint-Gilles.
" Vies des Saints," tome x. , premier jour de Septem-
bre, pp. 404, 405.
5 The Maurists, in " Histoire Literaire de la
France," state that he died about the year 547. See tome iii. , p. 244.
* See Les Petits
Bollandistes,
6
Before the ninth century, his veneration
as Patron was recognised in the Monastery of Saint-Gilles, as we read from a Council
" 10 of Aix-la-Chapelle, held A. D. 817 : Monas-
terium Sancti ^Egidii in Valle Flaviana. "— Labbe, "Concilia," tomus vii. , col. 1514. This veneration probably extended at that time over the whole of Nismes diocese, and
See "Gallia Christiana," tomus vi. , col.
the districts of through adjoining
1 ' These matters be found in Baiuzius' may
Languedoc. 7 According to the writer in " Gallia Chris-
tiana," tomus vi , col. 483, during the year mentioned in the text, one Autulphus, or Antulphus, was Abbot at Saint-Gilles, and while he was incumbent, the sacred relics of the Patron were raised from the earth. For this account, Saxius is quoted, " in Pontificio Arelatensi. " while he cites a Breviarium S.
Iii, for such statement.
her John Stilting suspects, that besides
the church dedicated to St. Peter, there must have been at the time another still larger, and dedicated to the Patron at Saint-Gilles. To this latter the translation probably took
be excommunicated. See Labbeus, ciliorum," tomus ix. , col. 124.
"
Con-
1
In 1066, the Abbey was subjected to the
l65- "„
See "Historian Occitanioe, tomus 11. , inter Probationes, col. 10.
M He reigned from a. d. 872 to 882.
" Miscellaneorum," tomus vii. , p. 349. De Gestis Joannis VIII. However, the bishop still refused to accept this decision ; but the Pope wrote, that he should be mindful of his duty, and if he refused to do so, he must
14 In a provincial assembly held in the Monastery of St. Bausile, Nimes. See "Histoire Generale de Languedoc," tome ii. , liv. xiv. , sect, lvii. , p. 21 1.
«S However, the abbey of St. Gilles had to pay the costs of this process. See ibid. , liv,, xvii. sect. xx.
.
September i. I LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
level with the cloister—is thought to have been built in the eleventh century, having been consecrated by Pope Urban II. , in 1096, The west front is a master-piece of the Romanesque style, upon which every species of ornamental
16
decoration and rich sculpture seems to have been lavished.
Gregory VII. 17 reprehends Froterius II. , Bishop of Nimes, because he had assumed too much authority over the Abbey of St. ^Egidius. To many other
18
The upper church was begun on a scale ofgreat magnificence by Alphonso,^ son to Raymond IV. ,20
vicissitudes was this venerable institute subjected.
16. In 1 1 59, Pope Adrian IV. , Count of St. Gilles,21 in the year n 22
granted indulgences in favour of the church and monastery of Saint Gilles ; as did
2
also Pope Gregory IX. , 3 in 1233.
However, the rights and privileges of that
abbeywerefrequentlyinfringeduponbytheCountsofToulouse. Anage later the usages of the pilgrimage to Saint-Gilles were somewhat modified, as
24 ill the thirteenth century,25 disturbed the country around. 26 It is not well known, at what particular date the remains of ^Egidius had been translated to Toulouse. 2* In 1326, during the month of September, one hundred Belgian pilgrims arrived at St. Gilles, to ratify a clause in the treaty between Charles the Fair and the Flemish. In the year 1423, the head of St. iEgidius was kept within his church in a silver-gilt shrine. 28 What has become of this relic is unknown ; but Father Stilting thinks, it may not have
the
Albigenses,
" Handbook for Travellers n France," sect, vi. , Route 126, p. 508.
*l His Pontificate lasted from a. d. 1073 to 1085. An admirable narrative of his Ponti- ficate may be found in J. Voigt's History of
Gregory VII. , published at Weimar in 1813. It has been translated into French, under
16 See
Murray's
was to be the spirit of good, as Lucifer had
been the spirit of evil. They rejected the Old Testament and the history of the Crea-
tion, as given by Moses. They inveighed against the authority of the Church and its
ministers, as also, they rejected the Sacra-
"
et de son Siecle," issued in two octavo volumes, at Paris, in 1839.
the title,
Histoire du Pape Gregoire VII.
18 See in Catalogo Abbatum S. iEgidii,
u 26
in Gallia Christiana," tomus vi. , at col. 482.
'9 He was called Alphonse-Jourdain, because he had been baptized in the River Jordan. He died in the middle of April, a. d. 1 148, at the age of forty-five years. See "Histoire Generale de Languedoc," tome ii. , liv. xvii. , sect, lxxx. , p. 452.
20 He was son to Pons, Count of Toulouse, who died towards the end of 1060, or the commencement of the following year. See ibid. , notes, xxxii. , col. 2, p. 609.
21 This title he assumed, because this
Saussay adds,
of the diocese of Nimes was his first inheritance, and on account of his devotion to the holy patron. See ibid. , liv. xiv. ,
sect, ii. , p. 179.
22 He presided in the Chair of St. Peter,
from a. d. 1 1 54 to 1 159.
23 He ruled from a. d. 1227 to 1241.
24 These heretics of the twelfth century
portion
were so called, because their first assemblies
were held in the town of Albi. They held
that God had first created Lucifer and his
angels ; that having revolted against God,
Lucifer was banished from Heaven, and pro-
duced the visible world, with evils then But, nothing more seems to be known prevailing ; while to establish order in it, regarding that head, or the festival associated God created a second son, Jesus Christ, who with it.
ments. See L'Abbe Pluquet's naire des Heresies. "
"
Diction-
25 See an impartial account of the war
waged against the Albigenses, in Pere Vaissette's "Histoire du Languedoc," tome i.
Saussay remarks, that at this time, the
relics of St. ^Egidius, that had been pre-
served for many ages in his own monastery, were raised from the earth, and were found
to be incorrupt. Thence, they were trans- ferred to Toulouse, and deposited in the Church of St. Saturninus, with those of many
holy Apostles, Martyrs and Confessors.
"
condigno cultu hue usque in ara sui nominis arcaque preciosa obser-
vatur. "
2? Although Saussayrefers this Transla—tion
to the time of the — in Albigensian heresy
the twelfth or thirteenth century yet, the writers of "Gallia Christiana" state, it must have been so late as the sixteenth cen- tury or somewhat before, since Nicholas Ber- trand, who wrote in the beginning of that century, records as being in the possession of Toulouse, "corpus beati Egidii abbatis. " For this account De Gestis Tolosanorum, fol. 5, is quoted.
* 8 In a Manuscript Kalendar, brought to light by Chifilet, at the 2nd of July, there is an entry: "S. . /Egidii inventio Capitis. "
In 1074, Pope
B
1 8 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September i.
escaped destruction with other holy relics, and even the church itself, when
a
the Calvinists were in possession of Saint-Gilles, during the year i562. 9 At
Grado, a town in the Venicean province, and in the Collegiate Church of the Blessed Virgin, Gelenius states, that the head of the Abbot yEgidius was kept ;3° but, whether this is the head to which allusion has been made, or only a portion of it, is not known.
In the year 1538, the Abbey of St. Gilles, with many other houses,
31 See " Histoire Generate de
tome v. , lib. xxxvii. . sect, lxxii. , p. 159.
38 These disturbances commenced in 1559, during the reign of Francis II.
33 This was the term employed to designate the Calvinists as distinguished from the Lutherans. According to Henri Martin the word Huguenot, for which many bizarre derivations have been given, is traceable to
the German eidgenossen, meaning "allies
"
France," tome x. , Journal Ilistorique de Louis XIII. , p. xxvii.
39 It was saved from destruction at the period of the Revolution, through the in-
or "confederates. " The Genevan reformers
were named eigtiots, when they were allied
1
During the religious wars in France of the sixteenth
became secularized. 3
2 in
Duke of Usez attacked and occupied that city. 3 religiouswereobligedtoseekrefugeinProvence. Anexpeditionthatparted from Lyons, July 2nd, 1622, under the Duke d'Hallwin, on arriving in Lower Languedoc, again took possession of St. Gilles, from which the Reformers
were then driven. 37
When no longer tenable as a fortress, the Church of Saint-Gilles was
demolished by the Due de Rohan, in 1622. Some time afterwards, the wars between the Huguenots and Catholics ceased under Louis XIII. , King of France, and peace was established. 38
The old abbey was destroyed in the sixteenth century ; but a detached pile of the ruin remains. It contains a spiral staircase, called le Vis de St. Gilles,^ and it is remarkable as a fine specimen of masonry. The ancient church has been replaced by a structure of late date, but of greatly inferior
architecture.
The relics of the holy Abbot were preserved at St. Sernin, in Toulouse,40
a. d. 1562. There the Canons of the Collegiate Church of Saint-Gilles concealed them, while the disturbances and wars of that period prevailed. In 1865, the shrine of the saint, with his relics, had been discovered,41 and on the 22nd of October, 1867, that event was celebrated in a public manner, and with a religious ceremony, at which a great number of the faithful assisted. Since that time the pilgrimages, which had so long been interrupted, were resumed by the clergy, religious and others, whole parishes sending numerous
39 According to the writers of "Gallia toire de France," tome ix. , cinquieme
converted this church into a fortress. The Marechal de Damville34 besieged St. Gilles on the 2nd of June, 1570, however, and took possession of it in three days. 35 Again, in 1575, the
6
century,3
1562,
the
Huguenots33
Christiana," col. 506.
30 See " De Admiranda Colonise Magni-
tudine," p. 311. Cologne, 1634, 4to.
partie, liv. li. , p. 28. n. 2.
34 Appointed to the government of Lan- guedoc in 1563. See Pere G. Daniel's '* Histoire de France," tome viii. . Charles IX. , p. 484.
3S See " Histoire Generate de Languedoc," tome v. , liv. xxxix. , sect, lxvii. , p. 305.
36 See ibid. , liv. xl. , sect, xiii. , p. 341.
3? See ibid. , liv. xlii. , sect, lxii. , p. 530,
Languedoc,"
with a part of the German Swiss, who fluence of M. Michel, a lawyer of St.
desired to render themselves independent Gilles.
from the Duke of "
Savoy. Lescatholiques
A° See Rev. S. " Lives of Baring-Gould's
the Saints," vol. ix. , September I, p. 10.
4I An account of this may be seen in a
firent de ce nom une injure : les protestants en firent un titre de gloire et voulurent que huguenots signifiat ddfenseurs de la —race de Hugues Capet contre les Lorrains. "
" ['Invention du Tombeau de Saint-Gilles. "
" His-
In 162 1, the canons and
and sect. Ixxiv. , p. 538.
38 See Pere G. Daniel's
"
Histoire de
work of M. l'Abbc Trichaud.
Histoire de
September i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. r 9 bands to St. Gilles' shrine. His church had also attracted the attention and
2
admiration of tourists and archaeologists. '*
In a very remarkable manner, veneration for St. ^Egidius was introduced
at Leodium, a. d. 976,43 while Notger was its prelate. One Gorderan, from
Gallia Narbonensis, was accustomed to traverse the country with a bear and
an ape, with which he gave popular exhibitions. 44 However, in his old agt;,
having selected a place among the woods, and Latinized Publicus Mons,45 for a
station ; he then erected houses and cottages, where he received the poor
with hospitable care. Even robbers, who infested that country, flocked
thither to receive the devout man's exhortations, and frequently were they
thus induced to reform their lives. But, his work was not deemed to be
complete, until he had there erected a church to his patron, St. . /Egidius, for
the stranger had been a native of Saint-Gilles. Moreover, that humble man
had contrived to gather pious women,*6 to form a religious society, in those
houses he had built near the church. *? In that place, Goderan closed his
earthly career, and departed this life, venerated as a saint in popular
8
estimation. 4
So great was the veneration of the French for St. Gilles, that besides the
chief city in the Isle of Reunion, and which took its name from him, no less than eighteen other towns have a similar name throughout France. Between Peronne and Abbeville, in Picardy, a beautiful Gothic church has been erected to Saint-Gilles, near the ruins of Mount Saint-Quentin, which formerly had an oratory and altar dedicated to him. 49 In the forest of Ardennes, St. Theodore, Abbot over the monastery of St. Hubert, constructed a church in honour of St. ^Egidius, after the middle of the eleventh century. 5° With a desire to obtain some relic of the holy Abbot, Theodore made a pilgrimage to his tomb,andtookTroyesonhisway. Hereturned,havingobtainedthedesired relics. s1 From the Church of Saint-Gilles, divers relics of its
2 Among these may be mentioned the cathedral city of Strigonia,* St.
Saviour's," at Antwerp, in Lisbon, in Saint-Gilles of Bruges, Saint-Gilles of Paris, Saint-Gilles of Bamberg,s* Saint-Gilles-sur-Vic, Saint-Gilles of Noir- moutiers, Saint-Gilles of Vannes, Saint-Gilles of Saint-Omer,ss Avesne,
holy patron have been procured, and they were preserved in various churches and cities.
42 See Les Petits Bollandistes, "Vies des Saints," tome x. , premier jour de Septembre, pp. 405, 406.
43 See at this year, Fisenius, in " Historiae Ecclesire Leodiensis," lib. vii.
