Giles, Saint

One of the most popular medieval *saints whose life is first described in legends of the tenth century, Saint Giles (Gilles, or Aegidius) was born in Athens but moved to France to avoid the fame he had achieved through his generosity and miraculous deeds. After studying with Saint Caesarius of Arles , he became a hermit, lived in the forest near Nimes, and later founded a monastery near Arles. Giles died c.710. Scenes from his life which appear in medieval art (especially from the twelfth century following) include his giving his cloak to and hence healing a sick beggar, his being wounded while protecting a deer from the arrows of the Visigothic King Wamba (this animal had nourished the saint with its milk during his sojourn as a hermit), and his officiating at Mass when *Charlemagne (d.814) was present. An unconfessed sin of Charlemagne appeared to the saint in a vision, written on a tablet or a scroll held by an *angel. Saint Giles also appears in art garbed as a Benedictine monk, holding a deer in his arms and an arrow in his hand.