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 Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. While anchorites ar ...

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 ...

. 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, wher ...

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 Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. ...

, 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 typ ...

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) , occupa ...

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 Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Esca ...

, 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 Maubeuge Abbey (french: Abbaye de Maubeuge) was a women's monastery in Maubeuge, in the County of Hainaut, now northern France, close to the modern border with Belgium. It is best known today as the abbey founded by St. Aldegonde, still a popular ...

, also of Amalberga and

Aldetrude Aldetrude (died 696, or 526) was a Christian saint and from 684 was abbess of Maubeuge Abbey Maubeuge Abbey (french: Abbaye de Maubeuge) was a women's monastery in Maubeuge, in the County of Hainaut, now northern France, close to the modern bor ...

, 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 The Diocese of Tongeren (and Maastricht) was an ancient bishopric of Belgium, now a Latin titular bishopric in present Belgium. History In 344, it was established as Diocese of Tongeren on territory split off from the then Roman Catholic Dioc ...

, 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 densit ...

Veneration

Ghislain died at Ursidongus, and the monastery which he had founded took his name. The

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tang ...

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, Bishop of Cambrai, removed them to

Le Cateau-Cambrésis Le Cateau-Cambrésis (, before 1977: ''Le Cateau'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department in northern France. The term Cambrésis indicates that it lies in the county of that name ...

. They were visited several times in the course of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

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 A convulsion is a medical condition where the body muscles contract and relax rapidly and repeatedly, resulting in uncontrolled shaking. Because epileptic seizures typically include convulsions, the term ''convulsion'' is sometimes used as a ...

and

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

. 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 Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

he is frequently represented with a

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the N ...

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 Dagobert I ( la, Dagobertus; 605/603 – 19 January 639 AD) was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dy ...

, sought refuge with Ghislain and later showed him the place where he should establish a monastery. Moreover, the site of the saint's

cella A cella (from Latin for small chamber) or naos (from the Greek ναός, "temple") is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple in classical antiquity. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings, of a hermit's or ...

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 Saint Ghislain 680 deaths 7th-century Christian saints Year of birth unknown Basilian saints

Life

Veneration

See also

References

External links