^Egidius
was introduced
at Leodium, a.
at Leodium, a.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v9
, 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.
44 As in so many other instances recorded in the Acts of the Saints, we are here furnished with an illustration of customs prevailing in the Middle Ages.
ad S. /Egidii quotannis susceperunt cereum, proximo Mercurii die post S. Joannis Bap- tistae natalem. Hodieque post tot saecula antiquum ten—ent. Ista sunt ^Egidiani ccenobii
"
incunabula. " Historia Ecclesiastica Leo-
diensis," lib. vii.
49 This is to be gleaned from the monk
Nicholas' Vita S. Godefridi, Ambianensis Episcopi, as introduced by Surius, at the 8th day of November,
3° This is related by Mabillon in his Acts
"
Acta Sanctorum," srec vi. , Benedict, pars ii. , pp. 573, 574.
3I These he divided into two parts : one of them he reserved for his own monastery, the other he gave to the Church of St. yEgidius, over which he placed a priest,
52 In Hungary,
53 Belonging to the Cistercians.
54 In the twelfth century, St. Otho, Bishop of Bamberg, obtained the thumb of St. yEgidius, which was kept with other relics on an altar dedicated to him.
55 In the English Jesuits' College there
43 This may be rendered in English
"
the
public Mount," probably in relation to the civitas Leodii which was near it.
45 Among these one Judila was especially
of St. Theodoric in the
for her
"7 In the twelfth century, the Church of
St. yEgidius was served by Canons Regular, while the succession of Abbots and Priors
is enumerated by Dionysius Sammarthann, in "Gallia Christiana," tomus hi. , a col. 1009. 48 He was buried in front of the altar dedicated to Saints Dionysius and Lambert.
"
Fisenius adds :
sodalem a pio instituto primum revocare ten- tarant, Jn demortui memoriam deferendum
distinguished
sanctity.
Histriones, et citharaedi, qui
destitute,
of salvation for
souls,
praise
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September
s 606' Tournai,56 Walcourt,57 Cambrai,s Cologne^ Prague, Bologne, and in
Rome, where they were preserved in the church of St. Agatha. Having thus parted with so many portions, the city and church of Saint-Gilles only
possesses, at present, some parcels of the patron's relics. However, Monsig- neurPlantierobtainedfromToulouseaconsiderablepart; and,onthe27th of July, 1862, a translation to the parent church took place with solemn ceremonies. 63 Although the Festival of St. ^Egidius had been previously celebrated in the Church Aniciensis, yet would Raymund, Count of Toulouse, have it commemorated, in a more solemn manner, a. d. 1096 ; and, as an expiation for his sins, he endowed it with certain possessions. This appears from a charter still extant and published. 63
After the death of St. Gilles, the reputation of this holy Abbot for working miracles rendered him celebrated, not alone throughout France, but also in the Low Countries, throughout Germany, Poland, and all over the European Continent, as also in Great Britain and in Ireland. From these countries, also, crowds of pilgrims resorted to his shrine, imploring the saint's intercession. In 1115, Gertrude, Countess of Northeim, wife of Henry,
6
founded the monastery of St. ^gidius, without Brunswick, * and this was
knownasthe"ccenobiumBursfeldense. " Aboutthesametime,anoblecon- vent for nuns, and dedicated to St. ^Egidius, was built in Munster, Westphalia. Another monastery, also dedicated to the holy abbot, was erected in the diocese of Halberstad. Also at Bamberg, in the twelfth century, St. Otho, Bishop over that See, resolved on founding a monastery dedicated to St. ^Egidius, at a certain eligible place, called Lugenhubel,65 without the city. It was levelled at that spot, and there he built the church. A domicile for the poor and pilgrims was attached ; so that, what had been heretofore a disreputable locality, might become thenceforward a source of relief for the
and of
Nuremburg, a. d. 1140, having entertained an exalted opinion of the services
rendered to religion in Germany by the Irish—then called Scottish—monks
on the Continent, the Emperor Conrad III. built a magnificent monastery, dedicated to St. iEgidius, and he placed them in charge of it. This was
was a bone of St. /Egidius.
s6 The Abbey of St. Nicholas de Pratis,
France in the year 1356, "teste Phosphoro Pragensi," p. 517.
6l
These relics were kept in the Church ot St. Stephen, and in the Jesuits' Church " In the Collegiate Church of the Blessed of St. Ignatius, according to Masinus in
belonging to the Canons Regulars, preserved a considerableportionofthearmofSt/Egidius.
Virgin, Rayssius relates, that in a large
Cross, adorned with gems and precious
stones, in which are kept relics of various
saints, among—those are included relics
"
Bononia perlustrata," p. 439.
6l "
of St. /Egidius incorrectly styled Abbot of tomus ii. , inter Instrumenta, col. 343.
Aries. See
"
64 See an account of this city, in the Gazetteer of the world," vol. iii. , pp. 92,93. 6s In Latin its translation is rendered,
Hierogazophylacium Belgicum,"
"
p. 330.
s8 In the Abbey Church of the Holy
Sepulchre was kept a small portion of the
" collis mendacii. "
6j Androes, who describes what is in the
arm of St.
59 Gelenius assigns relics of St. y£gidius
to various churches of that city : viz. , to the Collegiate Church of St. Gereon, to the Collegiate of St. Cunibert, to the Church of St. Pantaleon, and to the parochial Church of St. Lupus. See " De Admiranda Colonise
Magnitudine," pp. 264, 289, 372, 412.
60 A pait of the arm and two other small
w«re in the
portions deposited Metropolitan
Church of St. Vitus, when brought from
/Egidius.
to the Lord. 66 at Again,
See Les Petits Bollandistes, Vies des Saints," tome x. , Septembre i. , p. 405.
6iBythewritersof"HistoricOccitania\"
text, adds : "Eo tempore canonicus quidam eccleske S. Jacobi, Wichodo nomine, Orttio- nis causa, beatum vi«itam;/Egidium, reliquias magnificas, id est, pollicem ejus, comparavit ; quern pius Otto, ab eodem sagaciler impetra- turn, altario S. /Egidii cum aliis multiplici- bus reliquiis inclusit, ecclesiamque solenniter dedicans, memoriam ejus per omnem locum — eatenus
" Vita S.
celebriorem, quam fuisset. instituit. "
Ottonis,"
num.
3.
September i. l LIVES 01 THE IRISH SAINTS.
governed and regulated by monks from Ireland, until a. d. 1418, when the succession from Ireland failing, German monks of the Benedictine Order were substituted. 67 In Germany, St. Giles is reckoned as one of the Vierzehn Noth-halfer. 6S Towards the end of the eleventh century, the veneration of St. /Egidius extended in Hungary, while the saintly King Ladislaus, son of the Champion Bela, ruled there. He founded a monastery and church
dedicated to the holy abbot, at Semichen, and this religious house was 6
subjected to the parent one, ? already established in the Flavian Valley. In that, also, only French monks were to be received. 70 To the discretion of the Hungarian monarch was left certain affairs connected with that monastery. 71 Besides, at Rome itself, were churches and religious places connected with a veneration for the Blessed Abbot ^Egidius. 72
On the 1 st of September, the feast of their patron, at Saint-Gilles-Vieux-
Marche, at Saint-Gilles-Pligneaux, and at Saint-Gilles du Mene, in Bretagne, a great number of pilgrims annually assemble to invoke his intercession.
After the middle of the thirteenth century, Pope Urban IV. " ordered an Office of Nine Lessons for St. yEgidius to be inserted in the Roman Breviary, and it was to be recited as a semi-double. 7* But, about the middle of the sixteenth century, that office was reduced to a simplex? * and as thus regulated by Pope St. Pius V. , it has since been observed. However, in many dioceses, especially in France and Belgium, the office of our saint has had a higher position. Hence, the Lessons recited on the Festival of St. ^Egidius are varied according to the circumstances of churches and provinces. In Ireland, it is a simplex, the third Lesson of which is a proper one,76 dealing with the acts of St. /Egidius and having a special prayer. With fifteen other saints, for many ages in various churches of Western Christendom, he was invoked by the special title of " Auxiliator. " 77 This must be attributed to the confidence felt by the faithful in the efficacy of his intercession. 78
67 Bucelin, who records these facts, adds ; Patet hodie magistratui, extinctis post mutatam religionem in urbe monachis, cele- braturque summopere amplissimce basilicce architectur—a,egregiumpriscisplendorisargu-
'*
<;
Arelatem ad beatum Ccesarium 77 Father Papebroke, when treating of St.
"
63
statement, contendit. "
mentum. "
Germania Sacra," parsii. ,p. 3. See Rev. S. Baring- Gould's "Lives of
reasons
for such a
title ;
but he has a only
the Saints," vol. ix. , September I, p. 10.
69 This is to be seen in the Letter of Pope Paschal II. , in 1106, and directed to Hugh, Abbot of St. /Egidius in Septimania. See Baluzius, in " Miscellaneorum," tomusii. , p.
183.
70 This is stated by the monk Albericus, in
his Chronicle, at A. D. 1078.
71 See Mabillon's " Annales Ordinis S.
Benedicti," tomus v. , lib lxv. , num. xlviii. ,
p. 137.
71 See the Bollandists' " Acta Sanctorum,"
tomus i. , Septembris i. De Sancto ^Lgidio Abbate in Fano S. ^Egidii Occitaniae. Com- mentaiius Praevius, sect. i. Veneratio Sancti longe lateque propagata, pp. 284 to 287.
73 He ruled from a. d. 1261 to a. d. 1264.
74 Father Stilting adds, " ut ex Gavanto
scribit Bailletus ad I. Septembris in S.
yEgidio. "
75 He presided over the Church from a.
«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.
44 As in so many other instances recorded in the Acts of the Saints, we are here furnished with an illustration of customs prevailing in the Middle Ages.
ad S. /Egidii quotannis susceperunt cereum, proximo Mercurii die post S. Joannis Bap- tistae natalem. Hodieque post tot saecula antiquum ten—ent. Ista sunt ^Egidiani ccenobii
"
incunabula. " Historia Ecclesiastica Leo-
diensis," lib. vii.
49 This is to be gleaned from the monk
Nicholas' Vita S. Godefridi, Ambianensis Episcopi, as introduced by Surius, at the 8th day of November,
3° This is related by Mabillon in his Acts
"
Acta Sanctorum," srec vi. , Benedict, pars ii. , pp. 573, 574.
3I These he divided into two parts : one of them he reserved for his own monastery, the other he gave to the Church of St. yEgidius, over which he placed a priest,
52 In Hungary,
53 Belonging to the Cistercians.
54 In the twelfth century, St. Otho, Bishop of Bamberg, obtained the thumb of St. yEgidius, which was kept with other relics on an altar dedicated to him.
55 In the English Jesuits' College there
43 This may be rendered in English
"
the
public Mount," probably in relation to the civitas Leodii which was near it.
45 Among these one Judila was especially
of St. Theodoric in the
for her
"7 In the twelfth century, the Church of
St. yEgidius was served by Canons Regular, while the succession of Abbots and Priors
is enumerated by Dionysius Sammarthann, in "Gallia Christiana," tomus hi. , a col. 1009. 48 He was buried in front of the altar dedicated to Saints Dionysius and Lambert.
"
Fisenius adds :
sodalem a pio instituto primum revocare ten- tarant, Jn demortui memoriam deferendum
distinguished
sanctity.
Histriones, et citharaedi, qui
destitute,
of salvation for
souls,
praise
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September
s 606' Tournai,56 Walcourt,57 Cambrai,s Cologne^ Prague, Bologne, and in
Rome, where they were preserved in the church of St. Agatha. Having thus parted with so many portions, the city and church of Saint-Gilles only
possesses, at present, some parcels of the patron's relics. However, Monsig- neurPlantierobtainedfromToulouseaconsiderablepart; and,onthe27th of July, 1862, a translation to the parent church took place with solemn ceremonies. 63 Although the Festival of St. ^Egidius had been previously celebrated in the Church Aniciensis, yet would Raymund, Count of Toulouse, have it commemorated, in a more solemn manner, a. d. 1096 ; and, as an expiation for his sins, he endowed it with certain possessions. This appears from a charter still extant and published. 63
After the death of St. Gilles, the reputation of this holy Abbot for working miracles rendered him celebrated, not alone throughout France, but also in the Low Countries, throughout Germany, Poland, and all over the European Continent, as also in Great Britain and in Ireland. From these countries, also, crowds of pilgrims resorted to his shrine, imploring the saint's intercession. In 1115, Gertrude, Countess of Northeim, wife of Henry,
6
founded the monastery of St. ^gidius, without Brunswick, * and this was
knownasthe"ccenobiumBursfeldense. " Aboutthesametime,anoblecon- vent for nuns, and dedicated to St. ^Egidius, was built in Munster, Westphalia. Another monastery, also dedicated to the holy abbot, was erected in the diocese of Halberstad. Also at Bamberg, in the twelfth century, St. Otho, Bishop over that See, resolved on founding a monastery dedicated to St. ^Egidius, at a certain eligible place, called Lugenhubel,65 without the city. It was levelled at that spot, and there he built the church. A domicile for the poor and pilgrims was attached ; so that, what had been heretofore a disreputable locality, might become thenceforward a source of relief for the
and of
Nuremburg, a. d. 1140, having entertained an exalted opinion of the services
rendered to religion in Germany by the Irish—then called Scottish—monks
on the Continent, the Emperor Conrad III. built a magnificent monastery, dedicated to St. iEgidius, and he placed them in charge of it. This was
was a bone of St. /Egidius.
s6 The Abbey of St. Nicholas de Pratis,
France in the year 1356, "teste Phosphoro Pragensi," p. 517.
6l
These relics were kept in the Church ot St. Stephen, and in the Jesuits' Church " In the Collegiate Church of the Blessed of St. Ignatius, according to Masinus in
belonging to the Canons Regulars, preserved a considerableportionofthearmofSt/Egidius.
Virgin, Rayssius relates, that in a large
Cross, adorned with gems and precious
stones, in which are kept relics of various
saints, among—those are included relics
"
Bononia perlustrata," p. 439.
6l "
of St. /Egidius incorrectly styled Abbot of tomus ii. , inter Instrumenta, col. 343.
Aries. See
"
64 See an account of this city, in the Gazetteer of the world," vol. iii. , pp. 92,93. 6s In Latin its translation is rendered,
Hierogazophylacium Belgicum,"
"
p. 330.
s8 In the Abbey Church of the Holy
Sepulchre was kept a small portion of the
" collis mendacii. "
6j Androes, who describes what is in the
arm of St.
59 Gelenius assigns relics of St. y£gidius
to various churches of that city : viz. , to the Collegiate Church of St. Gereon, to the Collegiate of St. Cunibert, to the Church of St. Pantaleon, and to the parochial Church of St. Lupus. See " De Admiranda Colonise
Magnitudine," pp. 264, 289, 372, 412.
60 A pait of the arm and two other small
w«re in the
portions deposited Metropolitan
Church of St. Vitus, when brought from
/Egidius.
to the Lord. 66 at Again,
See Les Petits Bollandistes, Vies des Saints," tome x. , Septembre i. , p. 405.
6iBythewritersof"HistoricOccitania\"
text, adds : "Eo tempore canonicus quidam eccleske S. Jacobi, Wichodo nomine, Orttio- nis causa, beatum vi«itam;/Egidium, reliquias magnificas, id est, pollicem ejus, comparavit ; quern pius Otto, ab eodem sagaciler impetra- turn, altario S. /Egidii cum aliis multiplici- bus reliquiis inclusit, ecclesiamque solenniter dedicans, memoriam ejus per omnem locum — eatenus
" Vita S.
celebriorem, quam fuisset. instituit. "
Ottonis,"
num.
3.
September i. l LIVES 01 THE IRISH SAINTS.
governed and regulated by monks from Ireland, until a. d. 1418, when the succession from Ireland failing, German monks of the Benedictine Order were substituted. 67 In Germany, St. Giles is reckoned as one of the Vierzehn Noth-halfer. 6S Towards the end of the eleventh century, the veneration of St. /Egidius extended in Hungary, while the saintly King Ladislaus, son of the Champion Bela, ruled there. He founded a monastery and church
dedicated to the holy abbot, at Semichen, and this religious house was 6
subjected to the parent one, ? already established in the Flavian Valley. In that, also, only French monks were to be received. 70 To the discretion of the Hungarian monarch was left certain affairs connected with that monastery. 71 Besides, at Rome itself, were churches and religious places connected with a veneration for the Blessed Abbot ^Egidius. 72
On the 1 st of September, the feast of their patron, at Saint-Gilles-Vieux-
Marche, at Saint-Gilles-Pligneaux, and at Saint-Gilles du Mene, in Bretagne, a great number of pilgrims annually assemble to invoke his intercession.
After the middle of the thirteenth century, Pope Urban IV. " ordered an Office of Nine Lessons for St. yEgidius to be inserted in the Roman Breviary, and it was to be recited as a semi-double. 7* But, about the middle of the sixteenth century, that office was reduced to a simplex? * and as thus regulated by Pope St. Pius V. , it has since been observed. However, in many dioceses, especially in France and Belgium, the office of our saint has had a higher position. Hence, the Lessons recited on the Festival of St. ^Egidius are varied according to the circumstances of churches and provinces. In Ireland, it is a simplex, the third Lesson of which is a proper one,76 dealing with the acts of St. /Egidius and having a special prayer. With fifteen other saints, for many ages in various churches of Western Christendom, he was invoked by the special title of " Auxiliator. " 77 This must be attributed to the confidence felt by the faithful in the efficacy of his intercession. 78
67 Bucelin, who records these facts, adds ; Patet hodie magistratui, extinctis post mutatam religionem in urbe monachis, cele- braturque summopere amplissimce basilicce architectur—a,egregiumpriscisplendorisargu-
'*
<;
Arelatem ad beatum Ccesarium 77 Father Papebroke, when treating of St.
"
63
statement, contendit. "
mentum. "
Germania Sacra," parsii. ,p. 3. See Rev. S. Baring- Gould's "Lives of
reasons
for such a
title ;
but he has a only
the Saints," vol. ix. , September I, p. 10.
69 This is to be seen in the Letter of Pope Paschal II. , in 1106, and directed to Hugh, Abbot of St. /Egidius in Septimania. See Baluzius, in " Miscellaneorum," tomusii. , p.
183.
70 This is stated by the monk Albericus, in
his Chronicle, at A. D. 1078.
71 See Mabillon's " Annales Ordinis S.
Benedicti," tomus v. , lib lxv. , num. xlviii. ,
p. 137.
71 See the Bollandists' " Acta Sanctorum,"
tomus i. , Septembris i. De Sancto ^Lgidio Abbate in Fano S. ^Egidii Occitaniae. Com- mentaiius Praevius, sect. i. Veneratio Sancti longe lateque propagata, pp. 284 to 287.
73 He ruled from a. d. 1261 to a. d. 1264.
74 Father Stilting adds, " ut ex Gavanto
scribit Bailletus ad I. Septembris in S.
yEgidio. "
75 He presided over the Church from a.
