Saint Gildard, or Saint Gildardus, is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a priest in the seventh century of

Lurcy-le-Bourg Lurcy-le-Bourg () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. See also *Communes of the Nièvre department The following is a list of the 309 communes of the Nièvre department of France. The communes cooperate in the followin ...

, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nevers. His name was in the convent of St. Gildard, which has now become

Espace Bernadette Espace Bernadette Soubirous Nevers is a former convent and the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers in Nevers, France, and is where the body of Saint Bernadette reposes. In 1970, it was converted into a sanctuary run by volunteers ...

, operated by the a small number of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, and the final resting place of St. Bernadette Soubirous

History

The Bollandists have little to say on the saint—he was a priest in the seventh century who "edified with his virtues the parish of Lurcy-le-Bourg." Local historians agree that little is known of this saint and repeat what was written in

Les Petits Bollandistes ''Les Petits Bollandistes'' is a 17-volume collection of lives of the saints by Paul Guerin, published in Paris in 1865. References

Holweck, F. G. ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Saint''. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co. 1924. Christian ...

. The date of his death was 24 August, but because that day was already dedicated to Saint Bartholomew Gildard's feast day was moved to 31 August, and was celebrated on that day for three centuries, until in the Nevers area it was moved back to 24 August, according to Augustin-Joseph Crosnier, vicar-general of the Diocese of Nevers in the mid-nineteenth century. Crosnies also reports that an ancient ceremony directs that the celebration is to be accompanied with wine and warm bread rolls. Gildard's body was buried in a small church dedicated to a Saint Loup (known by the

Latinised name Latinisation (or Latinization) of names, also known as onomastic Latinisation, is the practice of rendering a ''non''-Latin name in a Latin style. It is commonly found with historical proper names, including personal names and toponyms, and in t ...

of Saint Lupus), outside the city walls of Nevers. In the course of time, after miracles had occurred, the church came to be called after both saints, and later again the name of Lupus was forgotten.

Church of St. Lupus and St. Gildard

Less is known of Lupus than of Gildard, though at least some historians believe that a Lupus had lived in the area and that some miracles were performed at the church that came to bear his name, which he later shared with Gildard. In the time of Charles the Bald and Charles the Fat, it was an abbey, and in the eleventh century became a parish church; by the end of that century it was left to the monastery of Saint-Laurent-l'Abbaye. The church suffered greatly during the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...

, and the parish became so depopulated that the church was empty; in 1784 it was closed at the request of the local population. By the mid-nineteenth century, a wine press was in operation in two of the church

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

, while the grounds were overgrown with vines.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gildard, Saint, Lurcy-Le-Bourg 7th-century Frankish saints