Saint Giles
7th-century Greek hermit and abbot, Catholic saint, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers
Giles the Hermit (, Latin: Aegidius, French: Gilles, Italian: Egidio, Spanish: Gil; c. 650 - c. 710) was a Greek Christian ascetic active in France, most likely in the 7th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly legendary. A town that bears his name grew up around the monastery he purportedly founded, which became a pilgrimage centre and a stop on the Camino de Santiago.
Historicity
The legend of Giles connects him to Caesarius of Arles, who died in 543. In 514, Caesarius sent a messenger, Messianus, to Pope Symmachus in the company of an abbot named Aegidius. It is possible that this abbot is the historical figure at the basis of the legend of Saint Giles.
There are two forged Papal bulls purporting to have been issued by Pope John VIII in 878. Sometimes taken as authentic, they record that the Visigothic king Wamba founded a monastery for Giles and that Pope Benedict II granted a charter to this foundation in 684–685.
The public source identifies “Saint Giles” as 7th-century Greek hermit and abbot, Catholic saint, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Saint, Giles and 7th-century.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q149727. VIAF identifies the subject as 50016263. The Library of Congress control number is n84115167. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Saint Giles” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.