Gil (8th century)

Biography

Although he is supposed to be of Greek origin, after a pilgrimage to Rome he went to southern France and became religious in Arles; He later retired to a forest near Nimes and lived there as a hermit until founding a monastery, today Saint-Giles-du-Gard, a famous stop on the pilgrimages to Santiago and Rome. He was a man so understanding and so Christian in his mercy that he has been, since his death, the advocate of sinners and is invoked against fear and nocturnal nightmares.