Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman, Gailican, and Belgian Martyrologies. Authorities: — a lif written at the end of the 9th or 10th cent, from documents, “ Cartulis antiquissimis.”] The name of this Saint, Gisel, Ghysel, or Ghyselen, in Flemish means “ a hostage,” and according to his biographer, he was bom in Athens, not, however, of Greek parents, perhaps, but possibly of Frank ones. He entered a monastery of the Order of S. Basil and was ordained priest. He afterwards came to Rome, and thence rambled north till he reached Hainault, and there settled in an old ruined Roman fort, along with two disciples, Lantebert and Bellirius.
One day, King Dagobert was out hunting, when the dogs roused a bear, which took to flight and sought refuge under the mantle of Ghislain, which was hanging from the branch of a tree whilst the saint was engaged in gardening. There the bear stood at bay and the dogs would not touch her. The huntsmen, thinking that Ghislain and his disciples had bewitched the hounds, fell on them and beat them, till the king, galloping up, bade them desist. “Why have you arrested my dogs and deprived them of their prey?” asked the king.
“Sire,” answered Ghislain, “the bear came here, I did not call her, and she took refuge under the shadow of my mantle. Take her, I need her not.”
But Dagobert would not hurt the bear; he called off his dogs and retired. Now when Ghislain had done his work, he arose and put on his mantle; then the bear got up, and took the hermit's ft * “ basket, in which was his mystery, which he used at the sacred solemnity of the mass/* 1 and walked forward, carrying it in her mouth. Then Ghislain cried out, “ O God of infinite mercy ! assist me to recover what I have lost.” Then he and his companions ran after the bear. And an eagle came and flew before them to show the way. Presently they came on some shepherds watching their (locks, and Ghislain asked, “ Have ye seen a bear pass this way, my masters, carrying something ?” They answered him, “ VVe did see a she-bear go by, with something like a garment in her mouth, and she went yonder to her lair.” Then Ghislain pushed through the branches and found where the bear had her lair, and there were cubs in it, and they were playing with their paws and mouths with the vestment. And Ghislain adjured the bears to surrender what they had got, and not to trouble him any more. Then he snatched his chasuble from the cubs and ran away with it. Afterwards he built a monastery on the spot where the bear’s lair had been, and called it Ursidongus, but after his death it took his name. At the old fort where he had first lived he was the means of founding a nunnery which he dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, for S. Waldetrude, the wife of S. Vincent Madelgar. Waldetrude was a kinswoman of Dagobert. Vincent Madelgar had deserted her in order to become a monk, and had been shorn by S. Authbert at Hautmont. Waldetrude lived at home with her children and trained them carefully. But Ghislain sought her out and urged her to leave the world, its obligations and responsibilities, and take refuge in a nunnery. At his instigation also, she placed her daughter, Aldegund, then a little child, in the nunnery of Maubeuge. The old Roman fort where Ghislain had settled belonged to that Hildulf, Duke of Lobbes, whose wife Aia was a relation of Waldetrude. By 1 His sacred vestment, as appears from what follows. the advice of Ghislain, Waldetrude bought the land and founded on it according to his instructions the house of canonesses, which became the nucleus afterwards of the town of Mons. She is commemorated on April 9th. In remembrance of the origin of their monastery, the monks of S. Ghislain always keep a bear and an eagle.
