Gislenus, St.
GISLENUS, ST.
Abbot: b. c. 650; d. Oct. 9, c. 681. Gislenus (Ghislain in French) was a hermit in a forest of Hainault, France. Near Mons he founded and governed the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul, called locally "The Cell" and since renamed Saint-Ghislain. It was also originally known as Urisdongus, that is, the bear's den, from the legend that a bear he saved from the hunt showed him the site of his future monastery. It is said he influenced St. vincent madelgarius and his wife, St. waldetrud, whom he helped found a convent at Mons. He also helped Waldeturd's sister, St. aldegundis found a convent at Maubeuge and was her close friend, for they visited at each other's monasteries and, in old age, at a convenient oratory. Another legendary account of the saint's life states that he was born in Attica, became a basilian monk and then bishop of Athens. He is supposed to have resigned his see after a vision, gone to Rome and then to Hainault by divine instruction, met St. amandus, and settled on the river Haine.
Feast: Oct. 9.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum Oct. 4:1010–37. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints (New York 1956) 4: 71. a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige (Metten 1933–38) 3:154–157. j. dubois, Catholicisme 4:1910.
[b. cavanaugh]