(ABOUT 700.)
[Cologne, German, and Belgian Martyrologies. The name is sometimes
Tyllo, Thillo, or Hillo; in Belgium, Theaulon or Tilman. Authority:
A life published in the Bollandists, which agrees with scattered
notices of him in various writers.]
S. Tillo, the Patron of Iseghem, in Belgium, was a son of Saxon parents,
but was stolen, when young, from his home, and sold as a slave in Gaul.
S. Eligius, who redeemed many slaves, bought the lad, and being struck
with his beauty and intelligence, sent him to the monastery of Solignac,
to be educated by S. Remacle, then abbot of Solignac. After his
education was complete, he was returned to S. Eligius, who was a
goldsmith, patronized by King Dagobert and the nobles of the court. With
him Tillo learned the trade of a goldsmith, and made many vessels and
ornaments of gold and silver, encrusted with gems, for the King. Whilst
he worked, he had the Holy Scriptures open before him, and as he chased
the silver and gold he studied the Word of God. He kept ever in his
heart the maxim, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye
even so to them," and all his work was done to the best of his ability,
and executed with punctuality. Thus, he found favour with Eligius, and
with all the customers of his master. When Eligius left his shop, and
became a bishop, he called to the clerical office and to the religious
life, his apprentice whom he had bought in the market many years before.
Tillo, as priest and monk, showed a pattern of holiness, and was made
abbot of Solignac, near Limoges. But ruling three hundred monks and
attending to the worldly affairs of a great monastery, and more than
that, the multitude of visitors, made the life one for which the
goldsmith's apprentice, trained to work in silence, and think and read,
felt himself unfitted; so one night he fled away and was lost. He
penetrated the woods and mountains of Auvergne, seeking out a suitable
spot for a hermitage, and one day he lit upon a quiet place, hid away
among the rocky mountains, into which he could only just crawl on hands
and knees. Having got in, he found a pleasant glade, surrounded with
trees, having streams watering it from the mountain side, and there were
plenty of apple trees, from which he concluded it had been previously a
hermitage. Here he lived for some time, praying and reading, and tilling
the soil. By degrees, it was rumoured that a holy hermit lived in that
glade, and the people of the neighbourhood came to see him, and he
called himself Brother Paul. And to all who visited him this was the
rule of life he gave, "Believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus
Christ his Son, also in the Holy Ghost, three persons, but one God. Keep
your mind from vain cogitations and your body pure from all uncleanness;
avoid self-conceit, and be instant in prayer."
And when there was ever more and more of a concourse, and many desired
to put themselves under his direction, he went forth, and sought out a
suitable spot, and found it at Bayac, where he founded a monastery.
There he remained some while, till a longing came over him to revisit
Solignac, and he fled away when all his monks were asleep, as he had
fled previously from Solignac. And when he reached Solignac, he was
received with great joy. Then he asked the abbot Gundebert to build him
a little cell outside the monastery, in which he might reside with one
or two of the brethren who sought a stricter life. His wish was granted,
and in this cell he spent the rest of his days.
He is regarded with special veneration at Iseghem, in Flanders, because
he visited that place in company with S. Eligius, and there remained
some time teaching the people.
In art, he is represented with a chalice in one hand and an abbatial
staff in the other.