How many Presbyterian Churches do you know of that are named for Catholic saints? There aren’t many! Our St. Giles is named after a church, which was named after a saint. Here’s the story…
The Roman Catholic Church remembers St. Giles as a 7th century Greek, born into a wealthy noble family. He left his fortune to work with the poor, and because the Lord worked miraculously through him, he gained quite a following. However, he preferred a life of contemplation, and went to France, where he became a hermit in a cave near Nimes. The legend goes that he lived so meagerly that the Lord sent a deer, whose milk sustained him. Once a hunter’s arrow, aimed at the deer, hit Giles instead, leaving him with a crippled leg.
Despite his desire to live in solitude, Giles’ piety and God’s miraculous works through him again gathered a following of people. In admiration the King built a monastery in his honor. Giles became the first Abbott of the monastery of St. Gilles du Gard, which became a Benedictine house. After Giles’ death it became a shrine and a place of pilgrimage. Because of his own damaged leg and his care for the poor, he was seen as the patron saint of the crippled and of beggars.
Which brings us to the church – it was built in St. Giles’ honor by monks in Edinburgh, Scotland. Begun in the 12th century, it was added to for centuries, making it the landmark Cathedral that it is today. Its most famous Pastor was John Knox, who in the 16th century was the leading voice in the Scottish Reformation. St. Giles Church thus became the mother church of Presbyterians. It was for this Church that our St. Giles Church was named.
May it be that the devotion to the Lord, service to the poor, and empowerment by the Holy Spirit that led the Catholic Church to deem Giles a saint would be found in full at this St. Giles Church, together with the passion and courage of John Knox and his partners, who launched our branch of the Reformation.
