Image: Jan Brueghel the Elder, The Vision of St Hubert. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. (source)
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This site follows the traditional Roman calendar of 1962, as found in the 1962 Roman Missal used at the Traditional Latin Mass. Some feast days fall on different dates than in the General Roman Calendar of 1969, revised after the Second Vatican Council.
Quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus.
Psalm 41:2
As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after Thee, O God.
Today in the Calendar
November 3 is a feria in the traditional 1962 calendar: no saint’s feast is kept in the Missal today. The saint shown here is taken from the traditional Roman Martyrology, which lists St. Hubert, bishop, for this day.
His Life
Hubert was born in the second half of the seventh century into a noble Frankish family. As a young courtier he loved the pleasures of the world, and above all the hunt, and he gave little thought to God.
According to the old tradition, while he was hunting one holy day in the forest of the Ardennes, a great stag turned to face him, and between its antlers he saw the figure of Christ crucified. A voice warned him to turn to the Lord or he would soon perish. Shaken, Hubert gave up his worldly ways, placed himself under the guidance of St. Lambert, bishop of Maastricht, and prepared for the priesthood.
When St. Lambert was murdered around the year 705, Hubert was chosen to succeed him. He moved the see to Liège, where he built a church over the relics of his martyred master, and he laboured tirelessly to bring the Gospel to the still half-pagan people of the Ardennes, destroying idols and caring for the poor. He died about the year 727 and is honoured as the patron of hunters and of all who work in the forests.
A Lesson for Today
St. Hubert reminds us that God can meet us in the very middle of our ordinary pursuits. The stag he chased became the sign that turned him toward the One his soul truly longed for.
Sancte Huberte, ora pro nobis.
St. Hubert, pray for us.