Saint of the Day – 23 April – Blessed Giles of Assisi OFM (c1190-1262) Friar and Missionary of the Order of Friars Minor, Friend and the 3rd follower of St Francis. Giles held a leading place among the original Franciscans and St Francis called him “The Knight of our Round Table.” Giles was unlearned but a man of great wisdom, so much so, that all social classes came to learn aat his feet., he was a Mystic and man of deep contemplation and prayer. Born in c1190 in Assisi, Umbria, Papal States (in modern Italy) and died on 23 April 1262 at Perugia, Italy of natural causes. Also known as – Aegidius, Egidius.
Of Giles’ origins and early life nothing certain is known, other than that he was a simple farmer. In April, 1209, moved by the example of two leading fellow-Assisians and friends, who had already become the first followers of St Francis, he begged permission to join the little band and on the Feast of St George was invested in a poor religious habit which Francis had begged for him. Almost immediately afterwards he set out with Francis to preach in the Marches of Ancona. He accompanied Francis to Rome when the first Rule was orally approved by Pope Innocent III and appears to have then received the monastic tonsure.
About 1212 Giles made a pilgrimage to the Tomb of St James at Compostella, in Spain. Shortly after his return to Assisi, he started for Jerusalem, to venerate the Holy Places, visiting on his way home, the Italian Shrines of St Michael, at Monte Gargano and St Nicholas, at Bari. He is next found in Rome and still later at Tunis.
In these journeys, Giles was always at pains to procure, by manual labour, what food and shelter he needed. At Ancona he made reed baskets; at Brindisi he carried water and helped to bury the dead; at Rome he cut wood, trod the wine-press and gathered nuts; while the guest of a Cardinal at Rieti, he insisted on sweeping the house and cleaning the knives. He said: “Happiness is to do bodily labour for the love of the Most High and not to take any lesser wages than Paradise, for the good work one does.”
During the course of these travels, Giles, a keen observer of people and events, acquired much valuable knowledge and experience which he turned to good account. He took every opportunity to preach the Gospel. His sermons were brief and heartfelt, replete with homely wisdom. He never eluded truth and spoke to all, with the same love.
After some years of missionary activity, included a period amongst the Muslims in Tunis, Giles was assigned by Francis to the Hermitage of Monteripido, outside Perugia, where he began a life of contemplation and ecstasy which continued until his death.
Giles was a stranger to theological and classical learning but engaged in constant contemplation of heavenly things. Men of all social classes were drawn to Perugia to hear Giles teach. The answers and advice these visitors received were remembered, talked over and committed to writing and thus was formed a collection of the familiar ‘Dicta’ or ‘Sayings’ of Giles. St Bonaventure held these ‘Sayings’ in high esteem and they are cited in the works of many subsequent ascetical writers. They are short, pithy, popular counsels on Christian perfection, applicable to all classes. Known for their mysticism, humanity and originality, they faithfully reflect the early Franciscan spirit and teaching.
It was in 1262, on the 52nd Anniversary of his reception into the Order of Friars Minor that this Blessed Giles died, already revered as a Saint. His immemorial cultus was confirmed by Pope Pius VI in 1777 and his Feast Day is celebrated today, the 23rd of April.
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