20. St. Hubert & The Deer

Never to blend our pleasure or our pride  With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels                                   -- Wordsworth St. Hubert (656-727 CE) was born in France, and he later became the Bishop of Liege in Belgium. While young, he loved hunting so keenly that he did not even attend to his holy duties.     It was Good Friday. All the members of the Christian Church should devote the day to prayer. But Hubert was away in the forest hunting. He saw a deer with branching horns and chased it. But as he approached the deer and was about to aim his arrow at it, he thought he saw the Holy Cross between the horns of the deer.     The sight of the Cross, so holy to Christians, made Hubert think. He thought that it was a special warning sent by God to him to give up his passion for hunting. So ever afterwards he attended to his religious duties earnestly. Later he became the Bishop of Liege.     Even to this day a feast is hold in honour of this Saint on the second of November every year in Christian countries. People congregate in the churches on that date and receive blessings for themselves and their animals. **** **** Additional Information of Interest Click here to find out more about St. Hubert.   Click here to know more about St. Hubert's early passion for hunting and how he came to be known later as the "Patron Saint of Hunters".