{"id":142726,"date":"2026-01-29T06:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/?p=142726"},"modified":"2025-11-24T15:23:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:23:07","slug":"st-gildas-the-wise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-gildas-the-wise\/","title":{"rendered":"St Gildas the Wise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Gilda,<\/span> Your latest note deeply saddened me. \u00a0Whenever I hear of clergy, who have betrayed their trust and given scandal to the very souls they were called to save, my heart just about breaks. \u00a0But, on the other hand, it really should come as no surprise. Our Lord himself warned us that his enemy would be planting weeds among the wheat and that he would only separate the two completely at the very end of history (Matthew 13:25-30) \u2013 and, of course, we have the example of Judas as a permanent lesson. \u00a0The Church has grown and thrived through the centuries despite times of even greater scandal than what you describe. Today\u2019s saint, for instance, wrote an entire volume describing the \u201cmiseries, the errors, and the ruin of Britain,\u201d which consists primarily in a litany of horrible abuses by the corrupt clergy. And he knew what he was writing about. \u00a0St Gildas was born, it seems, in Scotland, but traveled south through Britain at an early age, looking for a spiritual guide. He settled in Wales, where he received, apparently, an excellent education in scripture, the classics, and the ascetical life. Scholars from Ireland and other parts of Britain frequently referred difficult doctrinal and academic questions to him, and a dozen or so other saints from the Islands spent time as his disciples. \u00a0The evils that were gnawing away at the Church in his age drove him to more fervent prayer and sacrifice, however, and he ended his days as the head of a community of hermits living on an island off the coast of Wales. <\/span> I don\u2019t want to belittle the evils you wrote about and their far-reaching effects, but I would say that to let such a scandal slow down your own passionate pursuit of Christian perfection would be to give the devil an added victory. \u00a0I hope you spare him the pleasure.<\/span> Your affectionate uncle, Eddy<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Gilda, Your latest note deeply saddened me. \u00a0Whenever I hear of clergy, who have betrayed their trust and given scandal to the very souls they were called to save, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSt Gildas the Wise - Regnum Christi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-gildas-the-wise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St Gildas the Wise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Gilda, Your latest note deeply saddened me. \u00a0Whenever I hear of clergy, who have betrayed their trust and given scandal to the very souls they were called to save, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-gildas-the-wise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Regnum Christi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RegnumChristiEn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-29T11:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Uncle-Eddy-Header.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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