St. Gibrian

The priest Gibrian was born into an Irish family of ten children. Intent to withdraw from the world for the service of God, he and his six brothers and three sisters migrated from Ireland to France, settling first in Brittany. Thereafter they moved to the vicinity of Chalons-sur-Marne. Gibrian settled in a forest near the intersection of the Coole and Marne Rivers, spending the rest of his life in prayer and self-denial as a hermit. As the oldest brother in his family, Gibrian served as the spiritual leader of his brothers and sisters, all of whom settled in close proximity to him. Each lived in his or her own hermitage. Inhabiting the same forest, they were able occasionally to visit each other. Along with Gibrian, his brothers Helan, Tressan, German, Veran, Abran, and Petran, and his sisters Francla, Pomptia, and Posemna have all been venerated as saints.