St. Hubert

If you've noticed the date provided on the last three postings you might be asking what that's all about. In going through my hard drive and clearing unused files, I realized I have a small cache of blogs which was never posted. Mostly because they remained unfinished; some because they were incomplete thoughts I had never bothered to research further, others because the content was just a bit too far to the left.

Either way something interesting was brought to my attention the other day in my Syntax and Phonology for ESL Teachers class. Another student mentioned to me The Apostle of the Ardennes; Saint Hubert.

Saint Hubert was born in 656 to Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine, son of Charibert, King of Toulouse in Maastricht, Holland where he married and was an avid hunter. On one particular hunting trip he had a vision of a crucifix between the antlers of a stag he was hunting and was told, "Hubert, unless you turn to the Lord, and lead a holy life, you shall quickly go down to hell." It is officially stated as his conversion experience. Historically though it wasn't until the death of his wife soon after that he threw himself headlong into the Catholic Church. He renounced all of his worldly possessions, handed the care of his son off to his brother and studied religion under and later became assistant to the Bishop of Maastricht who was later canonized as St. Lambert until the time Lambert was murdered in 701. Hubert had the body of his mentor moved to Liege and a church was erected on the site of his martyrdom in his honor.

Hubert came to be known for his service to his congregation. Throughout history the Catholic Church has paid their clergy well and Hubert lived in abject poverty for his generosity to the poor. For this I am certain it was easier for him to accomplish his other feats. He is known to have been responsible for the evangelization of the Ardenne region and converting the Pagans. Rather than relying on the Catholic habit of forced conversions, he reasoned with them to the point that the converts were allowed the choice to destroy their old idols; of course they did. St. Hubert died before his congregation while reciting "Our Father" in 727. His relics are interred at St. Hubert's Abbey in Liege, Belgium. It is said he predicted the day of his own death.

For both his patronage and the noble birthright he had rejected, military honors were named for him in a few European countries whose governments have since died out as late as the 18th century. 15th century Bavaria had the Order of Saint Hubert (Orden des hl. Hubertus) to commemorate a victory enjoyed on November 3, St. Hubert's Day. In honor of this award recipients were required to give 10% of their earnings to the poor and to make an annual lump sum contribution. They wore a gold collar with their armor inscribed with depictions of the conversion of St. Hubert. The collar was an outward sign of their obedience and altruism. Pre-revolutionary France also held their own Order of Saint Hubert which was given to knights for similar reasons, but more for their obedience. They were not required to help the poor. The Prussian's also had their own order; its purposes aren't immediately clear to me at the moment.

His association with hunting and the land around him led to his patronage which is notably broad. He is Patron Saint to hunters, trappers and their dogs. Notably specific to bad behavior and rabies in hunting dogs and just dogs in general. He is also Saint to metal workers and mathematicians. For those reasons he was also a popular Saint among early Canadians; today they commemorate him with a beer named for him.