GILEAD. See Peraea.
GILES (GILLES), jfl (Fr.] or jailz [Eng.] (Lat. ,Egidius), SAINT: A saint of great reputation from the ninth century onward. Apparently he spent some time in Provence as a hermit, and was then at the head of a monastery founded by him, in the vicinity of which a town named after him SaintGilles sprang up (11 m. e.s.e. of Nunes). As the brief of Benedict 11. in favor of his monastery dated Apr. 26, 685 (Jafftz, Regesta, 2127), is a forgery, there are no certain facts for his biography. His festival is Sept. 1.
Bibliography: The subject is well discussed in DCB, i. 4749. The early life with commentaryiein ASB, Sept.. i. 284-304; the Miracula are best given in Analeeta Bollandiana, ix. 393-422, Paris, 1890; and the life by William of Berneville is published by G. Paris, and A. Bop, Paris, 1881. Consult: J. de Herval, Vie et culls de S. Gilles, Le Mans, 1875; E. Rembry, S. Gilles, sa vie, ass reliquee, son culte, 2 vols., Bruges, 1879-82.
GILFILLAN, GEORGE: Clergyman of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland; b. at Comrie (20 m. w. of Perth), Perthshire, Jan. 30, 1813; d. at Arnhalt, Brechin (8 m. w. of Montrose), Aug. 13, 1878. He studied at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and from 1836 till his death was pastor of the School-Wynd church at Dundee. He was a zealous worker for the cause of liberal and progressive thought, and was active in the promotion of mechanics' institutes, free libraries, and popular lectures. He brought to Dundee such lecturers as R. W. Emerson, Samuel Brown, and John Nicol the astronomer, and himself delivered several courses of popular lectures. Gilfillan is best known as a man of letters. Altogether he published more than a hundred books and pamphlets, including various critical editions of the poets. His most important works are, Hades, or the Unseen (Dundee, 1842), a sermon that was attacked by John Eadie and Alexander Balfour; A Gallery of Literary Portraits (Edinburgh, 1845; 2d ser.,1850; 3d ser., 1854); Bards tend the BIZle (1851); Christianity and Our Era (1857); Alpha and Omega (2 vols., London, 1860); Night: a Poem (1867); Modern Christian Heroes (1869), and Martyrs and Heroes of the Scottish Covenant (7th ed., 1903).
Bibliography: DNB, xa. 352-353.
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