Saint of the Day: St. Gildas “the Wise”

Abbot (d. 570)

His life

+ Especially remembered as a teacher and historian, Gildas was born in England around the year 500. As a young man he settled in Wales and, following the death of his wife, he became a monk at a monastery founded by Saint Illtyd.

+ After making a pilgrimage to Rome, he founded a monastery in Brittany, where he died in the year 570.

+ Known as “the Wise,” Gildas is one of the most important of the early Welsh monks. His history of the Celtic people shows him to have been a learned man who was greatly distressed by the decadence and corruption of the monarchy and Church of his day.

+ Saint Gildas is especially honored in Brittany, where his feast is celebrated with great solemnity in the Diocese of Vannes.

For prayer and reflection

“The mouth of the just man utters wisdom, and his tongue tells forth what is right. The law of his God is in his heart.”—Entrance Antiphon for the Mass “For an Abbot”

Prayer

Grant us, O Lord, that amid the uncertainties of this world we may cling with all our heart to the things of heaven, for through the Abbot blessed Gildas you have given us a model of evangelical perfection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Common of Holy Men and Women—For an Abbot)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.