Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert, France

Saint Guilhem was the man who gave his name to the beautiful monastery in the Gellone valley, 30 kilometers northwest of Montpellier. Born sometime in the late 8^th century, Guilhem was the grandson of Charles Martel, the Duke of Aquitane, and one of the Emperor Charlemagne's chosen knights. He fought bravely against the Saracens (Moslems) of Spain and became famous as the hero of medieval ballads of knightly prowess and chivalry. A devout Christian who ended his days (died 812 AD) in the monastery at Gellone, he endowed the abbey with a relic of the True Cross, given to him by Charlemagne. Left in possession of the remains of a man who had been so illustrious in his early life and so holy in his later years, and possessing this relic of the True Cross, the monastery soon prospered and became a popular place of pilgrimage in southern France. As the great medieval pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint James developed in the 10^th century, the monastery of Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert became a recognized stage on one of the four major routes leading to Santiago de Compostela. By the middle of the 11^th century this influx of pilgrims to the Gellone valley enabled the monks to rebuild their monastery on a larger scale, using the architectural techniques of the early Romanesque style. The present abbey church dates from that period.

The life of the monastery continued, affected from time to time by national events and the wider crosscurrents of history until its slow decline in the 18^th century and suppression during the French Revolution in 1790. The victim of the vandalism that was common at the beginning of the 19th century, fragments of the abbey are found scattered all over the region and even as far away as the Cloisters museum, north of New York City. Much reconstructed in the 20^th century, the abbey today is the parish church of the small, picturesque village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert. While no archaeological evidence has come to light indicating the sanctity of the site in pre-Christian times, there is a presence of peace which infuses the valley of Gellone and the precinct of the old church. Certain sacred sites derive their initial holiness from the powers of the earth. Others, such as Saint Guilhem, have a holiness that is the result of the energetic influence of thousands of pilgrims visiting over long periods of time. The human heart, when it is inspired with love of the divine, radiates an energy or presence of peace all around itself. This radiance, concentrated in particular sacred places and compounded over time, develops a spiritual magnetism which itself attracts more pilgrims to the area.