Saint Gildas the Wise

It was around the year 527, at the age of thirty-four, that Gildas came to the province of Armorica, by the "command of God." He chose for his place of retreat the small island of Houat, near the coast of Rhuys. He lived there, far from all human consolation, and all the more consoled by the Holy Spirit. The reading of the Holy Scripture, meditation, and prayer were his only occupation. But some fishermen who lived on this island, charmed by his life and his entirely heavenly discourses, revealed to the inhabitants of the neighboring coasts the treasure that was hidden on their island. Such a great number of listeners and disciples came from all parts that he had to seek a place of greater extent and easier access to satisfy those who were eager for his instructions. He therefore came to the Rhuys peninsula and built a monast ery there. It is be presqu'île de Rhuys Principal site of the monastic foundation of Gildas in Brittany. lieved that he was helped in this pious undertaking by the liberality of Guérech, lord of the Bretons, who li Guérech Duke in Brittany who donated lands to Nennoke. ved in the vicinity of Vannes. He soon found himself surrounded, not only by a numerous community, to which he gave wise rules, but also by a great crowd drawn there by his miracles, for he healed many of the sick. The love of solitude forced him to withdraw to the other side of the Gulf of Vannes, even beyond the point of Quiberon. He shut himself in a cave offered to him by a rock located on the edge of the Blavet river. As this cave extended from the West to the East, he had the idea of making it an oratory. He therefore dug the rock even more, and it is said that God miraculously gave him glass for the embellishment of this chapel, and a spring of living water for the convenience of the dwelling. The gift of miracles, following him thus everywhere, manifested him in this place as elsewhere, and a crowd of infirm people came to him to whom he could not refuse their healing. He often visited the abbey of Rhuys and also directed several people of the world in the ways of perfection, among others Trifine, daughter of Guérech. This young princess had been asked in marriage by the Trifine Breton princess resurrected by Saint Gildas. cruel Conomor, who, not content with seeking only the satisfaction of his passions i n marri Conomor Usurper and murderer, antagonist of the saint. age, full of horror for the noble end of this sacrament, stabbed his wives as soon as he noticed that they had conceived. He had already made himself a widower several times in this abominable manner. As he was no less powerful than ferocious, and as he asked several times and with the greatest insistence for the hand of Trifine, her father was in the greatest embarrassment, daring neither to refuse nor to grant it. He decided to entrust her to Gildas, knowing that Conomor greatly respected this man of God. Gildas said that he would answer for her; and, full of confidence in God, to avoid a war between the two counts, he handed the young princess over to Conomor, after having told him that it was God himself who was giving her to him, and having made him swear that he would not mistreat her. But, after several months of marriage, the brutality of this lord made him forget his promise: he killed Trifine with the child she carried in her womb. Guérech, as soon as he learned this news, asked for his daughter back from Gildas, who asked for her back from God. The saint obtained her resurrection, and she gave birth to a son, to whom Gildas gave his name in baptism, and who was nicknamed Trech-Meur. Besides his miracles, Gildas had also acquired great influence over the people through his vigorous instructions. He fought with strength against the disorders of the Bretons in his discourse on the ruin of Britain: de excidio Britannix. He reminded them of that frightful multitud e of crimes which ha de excidio Britannix Historical and moral work by Gildas concerning Britain. d kindled the wrath of God against them and which had delivered them as prey to the fury of the barbarians. He also described there, in the most energetic style, the abominations of several of their kings. Constantine, one of them, opened his eyes, returned to h imself, an Constantin Roman emperor who brought peace to the Church. d converted sincerely.

In a second discourse, the Saint addresses the disorders of the ecclesiastics: he accuses them of rarely offering the holy sacrifice of the Mass, of living in idleness, and of dishonoring the sanctity of their profession. Gildas, in addition to his monastery of Rhuys and his hermitage of Blavet, also inhabited a small monastery nicknamed of the Woods, in Breton Coheslahen, or Coetlahen, in the parish of Saint-Demetrius. He also often retreated to the island of Houat. One day, having spent the night there in prayer to ask God for the grace to soon go and enjoy Him, an angel appeared to him and told him that his wishes were about to be fulfilled; that he would die in eight days. He had this news announced to his religious: they came in great numbers to receive his final instructions, which focused mainly on humility and charity. Gildas rendered his beautiful soul to God in 570, according to Usserius; in 581, according to others. For his burial, his last wishes were followed. As he knew that his children would fight over the possession of his body, he wanted it to be placed in a skiff and entrusted to the sea: which was done. But the religious of Rhuys, who made this sacrifice in good faith, nevertheless remained full of confidence in God, and prescribed for themselves three days of fasting and prayer to obtain this precious treasure. The skiff disappeared; however, after three months, one of them had a revelation that the holy body would soon be found near a small chapel that Gildas had formerly built in honor of the Holy Cross, on the seashore, named Eroest (house of the cross). They indeed found it there and piously transported it to the abbey of Rhuys, on May 11.

Saint Gildas is invoked for the healing of madness, because of his nickname of the Wise.

## RELICS AND MONUMENTS.

In the 9th century, Dajoc Dajoc Abbot of Rhuys who transferred the relics to Berry. , abbot of Rhuys, fearing the sacrilegious ravages of the Normans, hid under the altar of his church, in the tomb of Saint Gildas, eight of his largest bones, which are still preserved in the same church, now a parish church, and took the rest with him to Berry, to Bourg-Déols, otherwise known as Bourg-Dieu, near Châteauroux (Indre). A church was built there, bearing the name of Saint-Gildas, for the monks of Rhuys and Locminé, by Ebbon, lord of Châteauroux (Chât eau-R Ebbon Lord of Châteauroux, founder of abbeys in Berry. aoul).

The Abbey of Notre-Dame-de-Déols and that of Saint-Gildas are two very distinct abbeys, yet both were founded by the same lord, Ebbon of Déols.

The remains of the Abbey of Saint-Gildas (Order of Saint Benedict) still exist on the banks of the Indre in the territory of Saint-Christophe, one of the suburbs of Châteauroux.

Here is the origin of Saint Gildas: As we have just stated, threatened by the Normans, the monks of Saint-Gildas de Rhuys, in Brittany, had taken with them the relics of Saint Gildas, Saint Albin, Saint Brigid, and Saint Paternus, and had come to Berry, under the leadership of Abbot Dajoc, to seek asylum. It was Ebbon, who had founded the Abbey of Notre-Dame in the capital of his states in 917, who welcomed them and housed them first at Déols, in a hermitage, and then built for them the monastery that took the name of Saint-Gildas.

The body of Saint Paternus was carried to Issoudun and gave his name to one of the churches in the city. The Abbey of Saint-Gildas was suppressed by a bull of Gregory XV, dated Augus t 24, 1622. Grégoire XV Pope who elevated the congregation to the rank of a regular order in 1621. The relics of Saint Gildas are currently neither at Déols nor at Saint-Christophe.

In the diocese of Nantes, in the year 1026, a monastery by the name of Saint Gildas was also founded by the lords of La Roche-Bernard, where a society of teaching sisters has been established for some years. In Auray, a parish church bears the name of Gildas and has possessed his relics since July 26, 1809. This Saint is invoked in the English litanies of the 8th century. His feast is celebrated on January 29 in the diocese of Saint-Brieuc, and on May 11 in the new breviary of Nantes.

We have composed this life, which was not to be found in Father Giry, with Dom Lobineau, revised by M. l'abbé Tresvaux.