TheCompass: Saints for the deer hunting season
St. Eustace and St. Hubert share some common elements in their stories
Deer hunting season is upon us. Whether it’s bow season — Sept. 12 through Jan. 3 in Wisconsin — or deer gun season coming up — Nov. 21 to 29 — taking to the woods is a tradition going back generations.
When one talks about patron saints of hunters, two names come up most often: St. Eustace (also called Eustáchius) and St. Hubert (also called Hubertus). Their stories are similar and there is speculation that the life of the earlier of the two was more a pious story than the true tale of a true person.
However, St. Eustace is listed as a saint and, in fact, is one of the 14 Holy Helpers (a list which includes St. Christopher and St. Blaise). Eustace was born a Roman and became a very successful general under the Emperor Trajan in the second century. He was known as Placidus before his conversion to Christianity, and that conversion is where the hunting story comes in.
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4 comments:
That painting is fantastic. Good theme with this post - saints for deer hunting season - wish I thought of that.
I may be the only person I know who wears a St. Hubert medal, Patron of Hunters.
And a St. Anne one as well, a Patron of Horsemen.
Statue of St. Hubertus at a parish in southern Indiana (scroll down a bit at link):
http://catholictoledo.blogspot.com/2008/12/another-our-lady-of-consolation.html
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