Prior to his celebrated victory over the Saracens at Tours (Poitiers), Charles Martel had committed the grave sin of incest with his sister. Overwhelmed by agonizing remorse, he dared not confess his sin due to the utter infamy of the deed. He resolved to travel to Provence, where a renowned abbot named Giles was living. He wished to obtain absolution from the holy hermit without having to pronounce the crime aloud, thereby preserving the secret of his shame. Saint Giles agreed to celebrate Holy Mass for his intention.
In the middle of the sacred liturgy, an angel appeared and stood near the altar, holding in his hand an open scroll upon which the unconfessed crime was visibly inscribed. As the Eucharistic celebration proceeded, the written letters upon the parchment progressively faded until they disappeared completely, leaving the scroll spotless. Charles Martel thus found himself miraculously absolved by divine mercy. The account of this sin and its extraordinary absolution became so renowned across medieval Europe that popular devotion later attributed it to Charlemagne instead of Charles Martel.
Saint Giles' reputation for holiness was immense even before this miracle. Of Athenian noble birth, he had renounced worldly honors and retired into solitary eremitical life in the dense forests of the Gard near Nîmes, where a gentle doe visited him daily to nourish him with her milk. One day during a royal hunt, the king of the Visigoths pursued the animal to the threshold of the hermit's cave and accidentally wounded the holy man. To make reparation, the king founded a great monastery on the site, which became known as Saint-Gilles-du-Gard.
It rapidly developed into a major pilgrimage sanctuary and a vital stopping point along the Camino de Santiago. Saint Giles has been invoked throughout the centuries as the special patron and intercessor for difficult confessions and fearful penitents.
Text and photographs: international exhibition «The Eucharistic Miracles of the World», by Saint Carlo Acutis. Original panel at miracolieucaristici.org.