SAINT EGIDIO
FRANCE
Charles Martel had committed
a grave sin, and stricken by
remorse, decided to go to
Provenza and present himself
to a well-known abbot of the
time named Egidio, in order to
seek absolution for this sin,
without actually confessing it
and while keeping the crime
committed a secret.
Saint Egidio was officiating at
a Mass when an angel appeared
and placed himself near the
altar, carrying in his hand a
book in which was written
the unconfessed fault. As the
celebration continued,
the writing in the book faded
little by little until it completely
disappeared, and Charles
Martel felt himself absolved.
rior to the victory celebration over the
Saracens at Poitiers, Charles Martel had
committed the grave sin of incest with his
sister. Stricken by remorse, he did not dare
confess the sin, so vile was the committed act.
He decided therefore to go to Provenza and
present himself to a well-known abbot of the
time named Egidio, in order to seek absolution
for this sin, without actually confessing it and
while keeping the crime committed a secret.
Saint Egidio was officiating at a Mass, when an
angel appeared and placed himself near the altar,
carrying in his hand a book in which was
written the unconfessed fault. As the celebration
continued, the writing in the book faded little
by little until it completely disappeared, and
Charles Martel felt himself absolved. The story
of this sin and miraculous absolution was so
famous that popular fervor often attributed it
to Charlemagne, and not to Charles Martel, as
if the real participant were not sufficiently
authoritative.
The notoriety of Saint Egidio
was well established even before performing
this miracle. Originally from Athens, he had
retreated to a hermitage in a forest of Gard,
where a fawn visited him daily to nourish him
with her own milk. One day while hunting,
the King of the Visigoths followed the animal
to the threshold of the grotto where the
hermit lived and shot the fawn. In order to
correct the sacrilege he had committed, the
king had a great monastery built which would
take the name of St. Gilles-du-Gard, and
which would become an important stop along
the path of the pilgrims going to Compostela,
before itself becoming a place of pilgrimage.
Saint Egidio has been invoked for help with
difficult confessions.
P
© 2006, Istituto San Clemente I Papa e Martire / Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association
Charles of Steuben,
The Battle of Poitiers
A window picturing
Charles Martel
Saint Egidio and the Faun
The Mass of St. Egidio in the presence of Charles Martel,
National Gallery of London
Eucharistic Miracle of
Jean-Honoré Gonon. The Battle of Charles Martel and Abd-er-
Rahman, King of the Saracens