September 1 - Saint Gilles the Hermit is a legendary gyrovaga monk from Merovingian or Visigothic Occitania. Born in Athens, this holy monk is said to have come to live as a hermit at the mouth of the Rhône in Languedoc in the 7th century. He died around the year 720.

The saint is often represented by a doe, a hand and an arrow because according to a hagiographic legend of the 10th century, a doe, pursued by King Wamba's hunters, takes refuge in his cave and comes to lie at his feet. The hand of the praying saint is pierced by the arrow of a relentless hunter aiming at the animal. King Wamba apologizes to the saint, protector of the doe taking refuge in his house, and asks to be forgiven for the misunderstanding of his hunters. It is then that the monk persuades him to found a monastery in a place he has chosen for his tomb.

Very quickly, he became famous for his miracles but fled his fame and moved to Provence. He first went to Rome, before retiring to a forest not far from Nîmes, to Collias, near the Gard river, where a modest hermitage still exists.

His cult spread rapidly, many pilgrims from the most distant countries came to his tomb, invoking St. Gilles against fear and fire, for the cure of nervous diseases and for the protection of children.