Saint Ghislain (died 9 October 680) was a

confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.anchorite in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. He died at the town named after him,

Saint-Ghislain Saint-Ghislain (; pcd, Saint-Guilagne; wa, Sint-Guilin) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2018 the municipality had 23,335 inhabitants. The total area is , giving a population dens ...

Life

He was probably of Germanic origin. Ghislain lived in the province of Hainaut in the time of

Amandus Amandus ( 584 – 679), commonly called Saint Amand, was a bishop of Tongeren-Maastricht and one of the great Christian missionaries of Flanders. He is venerated as a saint, particularly in France and Belgium. Life The chief source of details ...

(d. 679) and saints

Waltrude Saint Waltrude (french: Waudru; nl, Waldetrudis; german: Waltraud; la, Valdetrudis, Valtrudis, Waltrudis; died April 9, 688 AD) is the patron saint of Mons, Belgium, where she is known in French as Sainte Waudru, and of Herentals, Belgium, whe ...

Aldegonde Aldegund ( 639–684), also Aldegundis or Aldegonde, was a Frankish Benedictine abbess who is honored as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in France and Orthodox Church. Aldegund was closely related to the Merovingian royal family. Her pare ...

, and

Amalberga of Maubeuge Saint Amalberga of Maubeuge (also Amalia, or Amelia of Lobbes or Binche) was a Merovingian nun and saint who lived in the 7th century. Narrative Amalberga's father was Saint Geremarus. She was born in Brabant. She is said to have been the n ...

. With two disciples, Lambert and Berler, he made a clearing in the vicinity of ''Castrilocus'' (now Mons, in Hainault), taking up later his abode at a place called ''Ursidongus'', where he built an oratory or

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

dedicated to

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

and Paul the Apostle.Van der Essen, Léon. "St. Ghislain." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 3 December 2021

Aubert of Avranches Saint Aubert, also known as Saint Autbert, was bishop of Avranches in the 8th century and is credited with founding Mont Saint-Michel. Life Aubert lived in France during the reign of Childebert III (695-711) and died about 720. He was born of ...

summoned him to the episcopal presence in order to sound the intentions of this almost unknown hermit, but he afterwards accorded him efficient protection. During his visit to Cambrai, Ghislain spent some time in the villa of Roisin and received as a gift the estates of Celles and Hornu. He soon entered into relations with Waltrude, who was induced by him to build a monastery at Castrilocus, his former place of refuge. It is probable that Ghislain influenced the religious vocation of

, Abbess of Maubeuge, also of Amalberga and Aldetrude, of whom the first was the sister and the last two the daughters of Waltrude. One day Aldegonde in her monastery of Maubeuge, had a vision in which, according to her biographer, the death of Amandus, Bishop of Tongeren, was revealed to her. Ghislain visited the saint in her villa of Mairieu, near Maubeuge, and explained to her that the vision was an announcement of her own approaching death. The intercourse between Ghislain and Aldegonde brought about a perfect understanding between Maubeuge and the monastery founded at Ursidongus under Ghislain's direction. St. Waudru rewarded her counsellor with a portion of the villa of Frameries and of the oratory of Saint-Quentin, comprised within the boundaries of the villa of

Quaregnon Quaregnon (; pcd, Couargnon; wa, Cargnon) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2018 Quaregnon had a total population of 19,006. The total area is 11.08 km² which gives a population densi ...

Veneration

Ghislain died at Ursidongus, and Saint-Ghislain Abbey, the monastery which he had founded took his name. The relics of the saint were first disinterred c. 929. They were transferred to Grandlieu, near Quaregnon, about the end of the tenth century or the beginning of the eleventh, and in 1025 Gerard of Florennes, Gerard of Florennes, Bishop of Cambrai, removed them to Le Cateau-Cambrésis. They were visited several times in the course of the Middle Ages by the bishops of Cambrai. In 1647 they were removed to St-Ghislain of which place he is patron. His feast is celebrated on 9 October and his intercession is sought to protect children from convulsions and epilepsy. In the old church of St. Martin in Saint-Ghislain there used to be an altar dedicated to St. Ghislain to which children suffering from epilepsy would be brought in hopes of a cure. In iconography he is frequently represented with a bear or bear's cub beside him. This is an allusion to the popular legend which relates that a bear, pursued in the chase by King Dagobert I, sought refuge with Ghislain and later showed him the place where he should establish a monastery. Moreover, the site of the saint's cella was called Ursidongus, "bear's den". He is sometimes portrayed holding a church. There is a Rue Saint-Ghislain/Sint-Gissleinsstraat in Brussels.

References

External links

San Gisleno (Gisileno)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghislain Belgian Roman Catholic saints County of Hainaut, Saint Ghislain 680 deaths 7th-century Christian saints Year of birth unknown Basilian saints

Life

Veneration

See also

References

External links