Saint Giles was born in Athens, lived in southern France during the eighth century. He was a hermit and an abbot. He fled Athens for Marseilles to avoid the honors his countrymen wished to pay him and fixed his hermitage in a desert spot near the mouth of the Rhone River.

He lived on wild roots, herbs and the milk of a deer, which he had befriended as it was being hunted down by the King’s hunters. One day, he was accidentally shot in the knee by an arrow that was meant for the deer. So that he might better mortify the flesh, St. Giles refused to have the knee treated and he remained disabled for life. The King greatly esteemed the holy hermit and gave him land on which to build a monastery which became the large and flourishing Abbey of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard.

Saint Giles is usually represented as an old man with an arrow in his knee and accompanied by a deer. Because of his lameness, Saint Giles has become the “Patron Saint of the Handicapped.”

In England, many ancient churches and hospitals were dedicated to Giles. One of the sections of the city of Brussels is named after him. In Germany, Giles was included among the so-called 14 Holy Helpers, a popular group of saints to whom people prayed, especially for recovery from disease, and for strength at the hour of death. Also among the 14 were Saints Christopher, Barbara, and Blaise. Interestingly, Giles was the only non-martyr among them. Devotion to the “Holy Helpers” was especially strong in parts of Germany and in Hungary and Sweden. Such devotion made his popularity spread. Giles was soon invoked as the patron of the poor and the disabled.

Saint Giles’ followers spread rapidly far and wide during the Middle Ages, as is witnessed by the countless churches and monasteries dedicated to him throughout Europe. His feast day is September 1st.
-Franciscan Media

Other Saints of the Day
1. Saint Lupus of Sens
2. Saint Regulus
3. Saint Constantius of Aquino
4. Saint Nivard of Rheims
5. Saint Terentian of Todi