HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT, ST.

Bishop, count Palatine; b. c. 655; d. Tervueren, near Brussels, May 30, 727. Leaving the world, Hubert worked under St. lambert of maastricht. He succeeded Lambert as bishop of Tongres-Maastricht in 705 and is responsible for converting the last pagans of the Ardennes. In 717 or 718 he moved Lambert's remains and the episcopal seat to Liège. Hubert's own relics were transported to the Abbey of saint-hubert in the Ardennes in 825 but were lost during the Reformation. In the late Middle Ages he became the protector against mad dogs because of a miraculous stole supposedly given him by the Blessed Virgin. Hubert and St. Eustace—and many other saints—were supposed to have been converted by seeing a stag with a cross between its antlers, and hence they are patrons of hunters. Hubert's cult has been popular also with artists and noblemen. A confraternity, the two military orders of saint hubert, and the city of Liège claimed Hubert as patron.

Feast: Nov. 3.

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum (Paris 1863–) Nov. 1:759–930. É. de moreau, Histoire de l'église en Belgique (2d ed. Brussels 1945–) 53–70. l. huyghebaert, S. Hubert, patron des chasseurs (Antwerp 1927); S. Hubert, patroon van de jagers (Antwerp 1949). a. j. barnouw, The Pageant of Netherlands History (New York 1952) 10–11. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, ed. h. thurston and d. attwater, 4 v. (New York 1956) 4:247–248. w. hildebrand, Sankt Hubertus und Sankt Eustachius (Gräfelfing 1979). Centre Pierre-Joseph Redouté (Saint-Hubert, Belgium), Le culte de saint Hubert en Namurois, ed. a. dierkens and j. m. duvosquel (Brussels 1992). m. denis, Maurice Denis: la légende de saint Hubert (Paris 1999).

[r. balch]