*Ø* Blogmanac | Eustace and the sacred stag
Feast day of St Eustace (Eustathius, formerly Placidus)
In the November 3, 2002 Almanac, we discussed a saint whose feast day November 3 is, Saint Hubert of Liege, who came upon a stag (sometimes described as a white stage) with a crucifix between its antlers. The stag threatened him with eternal damnation if he did not mend his ways, and so moved was Hubert by his experience, that he entered the monkhood, and eventually became Bishop of Liege, and the apostle of Ardennes and Brabant.
St Eustace, who changed his name from Placidus after his conversion, is a Christian saint who experienced conversion by seeing just the same unusual type of creature while hunting. Consequently, both men are patron saints of hunters.
Placidus was a wealthy Roman general in the service of the emperor Trajan. Although Placidus practiced idol worship, he also showed great generosity to the poor. The figure on the crucifix of Placidus’s stag bore the inscription, “I am Christ whom you serve without knowing it. Because of your generosity to the poor, I am hunting you”. Some versions of the legend say that the stage itself called out to him, “Placidus, Placidus, why persecutest thou me? I am Jesus Christ.”
Placidus returned home and was baptized along with his wife, Tatiana (who had received a similar miraculous visit) and their two sons. On the following day, Eustace, as he now was, came upon the stag again and was told, “Your faith must be tested. Satan will fight furiously to regain your soul. You will be like a new Job. But, when you have proven yourself, I will restore everything to you. Do you want the test now or at the end of your life?”
Martyrdom
Eustace chose to be tested at once. Within a few days, his servants and horses died of a plague and his house was robbed. Eustace and his newly onverted family fled to Egypt, but, on the way, his wife was kidnapped by sailors and his sons were devoured by wild beasts. Christ’s testing was certainly upon him. For 15 years he lived in isolation and poverty, until he was found by Roman soldiers who restored him to his former rank. He won a great battle for the Emperor Hadrian and found his wife and sons alive and unharmed.
However, upon his return to Rome, a victory celebration was held in his honour, but Eustace and his family refused to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to idols, so they were cooked to death in a bronze bull. Or, so it is said.
And then the emperor, replenished with ire, put him his wife and his sons in a certain place, and did to go to them a right cruel lion, and the lion ran to them and inclined his head to them, like as he had worshipped them, and departed. Then the emperor did do make a fire under an ox of brass or copper, and when it was fire-hot he commanded that they should be put therein all quick and alive. And then the saints prayed and commended them unto our Lord, and entered into the ox, and there yielded up their spirits unto Jesu Christ. And the third day after, they were drawn out tofore the emperor, and were found all whole and not touched of the fire, ne as much as an hair of them was burnt, ne none other thing on them. And then the christian men took the bodies of them, and laid them in a right noble place honourably, and made over them an oratory. And they suffered death under Adrian the emperor, which began about the year one hundred and twenty in the calends of November.
The story of St Eustace from The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints. Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275. First edition published 1470. Englished by William Caxton, first edition 1483.
Patronage
Against fire, difficult situations, fire prevention, firefighters, hunters, hunting, huntsmen, Madrid, torture victims, trappers.
The stag in myth and legend
The white stag is known in myths and legends from many places and in Europe probably harks back to early cultures that relied on hunting. The Celtic god Cernunnos (Herne, ‘the horned one’) bears the antlers of a deer. In Celtic myth, the white stag represents the presence of divine powers.
The 12th-century Anglo-French tale of Guigemar, by Marie de France, tells of a knight who comes upon a white doe with the antlers of a stag. He wounds the strange animal, which curses him to grow up and fall in love. In Hungarian mythology, a great white stag led the brothers Hunor and Magar to settle in Scythia. Thus were established the Huns and Magyars.
In Christianity, the white stag came to symbolize Christ, as does its cognate, the unicorn. In Christian iconography, the stag often appears with the sun between its horns. The white hart was the heraldic symbol of England's King Richard II. In Hindu mythology, Maricha assumes the form of a golden deer in order to attract Sitadevi; Lord Shiva was wrapped in deer skin; and the chariot Vayus is pulled by a pair of deers. Santa Claus, who evokes the memory of the northern gods Odin and Thor, is transported in a sleigh drawn by reindeer. In ancient Greece, the Elaphoi Khrysokeroi were five golden-horned deer sacred to the goddess Artemis. Of these, the first four drew the goddess’s chariot.
Stags in sacred texts
Picture of St Esutace and the stag by Pisanello
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Feast day of St Eustace (Eustathius, formerly Placidus)
In the November 3, 2002 Almanac, we discussed a saint whose feast day November 3 is, Saint Hubert of Liege, who came upon a stag (sometimes described as a white stage) with a crucifix between its antlers. The stag threatened him with eternal damnation if he did not mend his ways, and so moved was Hubert by his experience, that he entered the monkhood, and eventually became Bishop of Liege, and the apostle of Ardennes and Brabant.
St Eustace, who changed his name from Placidus after his conversion, is a Christian saint who experienced conversion by seeing just the same unusual type of creature while hunting. Consequently, both men are patron saints of hunters.
Placidus was a wealthy Roman general in the service of the emperor Trajan. Although Placidus practiced idol worship, he also showed great generosity to the poor. The figure on the crucifix of Placidus’s stag bore the inscription, “I am Christ whom you serve without knowing it. Because of your generosity to the poor, I am hunting you”. Some versions of the legend say that the stage itself called out to him, “Placidus, Placidus, why persecutest thou me? I am Jesus Christ.”
Placidus returned home and was baptized along with his wife, Tatiana (who had received a similar miraculous visit) and their two sons. On the following day, Eustace, as he now was, came upon the stag again and was told, “Your faith must be tested. Satan will fight furiously to regain your soul. You will be like a new Job. But, when you have proven yourself, I will restore everything to you. Do you want the test now or at the end of your life?”
Martyrdom
Eustace chose to be tested at once. Within a few days, his servants and horses died of a plague and his house was robbed. Eustace and his newly onverted family fled to Egypt, but, on the way, his wife was kidnapped by sailors and his sons were devoured by wild beasts. Christ’s testing was certainly upon him. For 15 years he lived in isolation and poverty, until he was found by Roman soldiers who restored him to his former rank. He won a great battle for the Emperor Hadrian and found his wife and sons alive and unharmed.
However, upon his return to Rome, a victory celebration was held in his honour, but Eustace and his family refused to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to idols, so they were cooked to death in a bronze bull. Or, so it is said.
And then the emperor, replenished with ire, put him his wife and his sons in a certain place, and did to go to them a right cruel lion, and the lion ran to them and inclined his head to them, like as he had worshipped them, and departed. Then the emperor did do make a fire under an ox of brass or copper, and when it was fire-hot he commanded that they should be put therein all quick and alive. And then the saints prayed and commended them unto our Lord, and entered into the ox, and there yielded up their spirits unto Jesu Christ. And the third day after, they were drawn out tofore the emperor, and were found all whole and not touched of the fire, ne as much as an hair of them was burnt, ne none other thing on them. And then the christian men took the bodies of them, and laid them in a right noble place honourably, and made over them an oratory. And they suffered death under Adrian the emperor, which began about the year one hundred and twenty in the calends of November.
The story of St Eustace from The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints. Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275. First edition published 1470. Englished by William Caxton, first edition 1483.
Patronage
Against fire, difficult situations, fire prevention, firefighters, hunters, hunting, huntsmen, Madrid, torture victims, trappers.
The stag in myth and legend
The white stag is known in myths and legends from many places and in Europe probably harks back to early cultures that relied on hunting. The Celtic god Cernunnos (Herne, ‘the horned one’) bears the antlers of a deer. In Celtic myth, the white stag represents the presence of divine powers.
The 12th-century Anglo-French tale of Guigemar, by Marie de France, tells of a knight who comes upon a white doe with the antlers of a stag. He wounds the strange animal, which curses him to grow up and fall in love. In Hungarian mythology, a great white stag led the brothers Hunor and Magar to settle in Scythia. Thus were established the Huns and Magyars.
In Christianity, the white stag came to symbolize Christ, as does its cognate, the unicorn. In Christian iconography, the stag often appears with the sun between its horns. The white hart was the heraldic symbol of England's King Richard II. In Hindu mythology, Maricha assumes the form of a golden deer in order to attract Sitadevi; Lord Shiva was wrapped in deer skin; and the chariot Vayus is pulled by a pair of deers. Santa Claus, who evokes the memory of the northern gods Odin and Thor, is transported in a sleigh drawn by reindeer. In ancient Greece, the Elaphoi Khrysokeroi were five golden-horned deer sacred to the goddess Artemis. Of these, the first four drew the goddess’s chariot.
Stags in sacred texts
Picture of St Esutace and the stag by Pisanello
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email
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