Giles offered a high degree of support for the papal rights of Boniface VIII, and Boniface was supportive in defining and safeguarding the rights of the Augustinian Order in the structure of the Church.
Boniface did this in a skilful way, however, balancing the respective rights and responsibilities of both religious clergy and diocesan bishops in a reasonable way that impartially settled the main conflicts between them.
His settlement, which was reconfirmed twelve years later by Pope Clement V, has remained essentially in force right up to the present day.
After the death of Pope Boniface, the prestige of Giles decreased with the election of Pope Clement V in 1303.
Clement was the candidate manoeuvred into position by the French king, Philip IV, and he transferred the office of the Pope to Avignon in France.
Clement was previously Betrand de Got (1264-1314), and as Archbishop of Bordeaux had had serious conflicts with Giles as the Archbishop of Bourges.
The bad behaviour of Clement towards both Giles and the Bourges area after he became pope is difficult to believe, but is too complicated for a biography of this brevity to include.
The coming of a new Pope, however, did not prevent Giles from playing a significant role in the debates of his time, which again need not be of concern in an article as brief as this one.
Giles died at Avignon, France on 22nd December 1316. He was first buried in the Augustinian church at Avignon.
His bones were later transferred to the church of the Augustinian studium_generale (international house of study) in Paris, where his tomb was marked by an inscription until it was destroyed during the French Revolution.
He bequeathed his books to the Paris studium, "out of whose abundance I was nourished right from my early years."
In summary, it can be said that Giles of Rome occupies first place in Augustinian intellectual history.
More than any other person, he shaped and promoted the teachings which traditionally characterised the Augustinians.
In turn, the Augustinians have always considered him to be their first master, not only in time but also in importance.
The first writers about Giles gave him the title of Blessed, although no formal process towards declaring him a saint was ever initiated.
Copies of some of his sermons still exist. Unfortunately, even today there is not yet a complete, let alone critical edition of his printed works. Nor has a complete account of the theological teaching of Giles of Rome yet been written.
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