Happy St. Hubert's Day
By James A. Swan, Ph.D.A few churches in the Midwest and Rockies hold a "Hunter's Mass" on the eve of the hunting season, but in general the ethics and spirituality of modern hunting are pretty much left up to individuals in the USA.
That's unfortunate because if hunting becomes invisible to the general public, except for the negative stories which tend to predominate mainstream media, hunting becomes more vulnerable to suspicion and criticism because it is mysterious, and not understood as a resource management tool, as well as a popular recreational activity.
Annual colorful festivities on and around Nov. 3, St. Hubert's birthday, draw crowds of 10,000 or more. Elsewhere in Europe, schools are closed on St. Hubert's Day, churches and massive cathedrals conduct the Mass of Saint Hubert, where hunters, their dogs and falcons, are brought into churches and cathedrals for blessings.
Many U.S. hunters, let alone the general public, have not heard of St. Hubert, so, some background.
The Story of Saint Hubert
The eldest son of Bertrans, Duke of Aquitaine, Herbert was born in 638 CE. He became a prince in the House of Aquitaine in France.
Hubert enjoyed the "good life" of nobility, but most of all he loved hunting. Supposedly one Good Friday, when he should have been in church, Hubert galloped off on horseback to hunt stag.
His hounds cornered a large stag. As Hubert approached, suddenly he had a vision of a glowing crucifix appearing over the deer's head. A voice spoke to him and said: "Hubert, unless thou turnest to the Lord, and leadest a holy life, thou shalt quickly go to hell."
Hubert climbed down off his horse and begged forgiveness. The voice instructed him to seek guidance from Lambert, Bishop of Maastrichcht.
Not long after seeking out the Bishop, Hubert's wife died in childbirth. Hubert soon entered the Abbey of Staveleot, became Lambert's student, and became a priest, giving his belongings to charity and the care of his young son to his brother.
Lambert advised Hubert to make a pilgrimage to Rome in 705 CE. During Hubert's absence, Lambert was murdered. Hubert was selected by the Pope to succeed his mentor as Bishop. Later Hubert built St. Peter's Cathedral in Liege, Belgium, on the spot where Lambert had died, and he in turn became the patron of the city.
Hubert applied his passion for hunting to his faith, establishing Christianity in large sections of the Ardennes Forest. He preached to many of the hunters and is said to have hunted and kept dogs all his life.
Hubert is also said to have been blessed with miraculous powers to heal rabies, aided by a special white and gold silk stole that he said was given to him by the Blessed Virgin Mary. He also had a golden key, which was reputed to be a healing amulet. Hubert died quietly on May 30, 727 CE with the words "Our father, who art in heaven..." on his lips. In 1744 he was canonized as a saint; the patron saint of hunting and butchers.
First buried in Luttich, Hubert's body was later moved to the Andain monastery in the Ardennes, which today is known as St. Hubert's Abbey. The location of the abbey, and the Belgian town of Saint Hubert, is supposed to be close to where Hubert saw the stag with the cross between his antlers.
Each Nov. 3, Saint Hubert's Day, all across France, Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium, thousands of people attend special masses and celebrations to honor Saint Hubert.
During these festivities, special blessings are said for the safety and success of hunters and the health of their animals — dogs are blessed for protection from diseases like rabies — and special religious music written for parforce hunting horns is performed (Grande Mess de Saint Hubert).
To many European hunters, making the pilgrimage to St. Hubert, Belgium, on Saint Hubert's Day is like a Muslim making a pilgrimage to Mecca, a Jew praying at the Wailing Wall or a Christian visiting Jerusalem at Easter.
For a U.S. hunter, the only thing comparable is a visit to Aldo Leopold's "shack" on the banks of the Wisconsin River in Baraboo, Wis., where he penned "A Sand County Almanac."
St. Hubert's Day in the U.S.?
The recent White House Wildlife Policy Conference sought to come up with strategies to conserve hunting. In the conference White Papers, nothing addresses how to help the general public develop a better understanding and appreciation for hunting. I think that's a serious mistake.
I propose that honoring St. Hubert's Day across North America would be a step in helping the general public understand and accept hunters and hunting.
If you don't develop pro-hunting programs that reach the general public, all other strategies to help hunting will be much less likely to be successful because, let's face it camouflage comrades, hunters are a minority group — perhaps even an endangered species — existing because the general public allows them to exist.
There are many ways to honor St. Hubert. One noteworthy example of St. Hubert festivities occurs in early September in Cap St. Ignace, Quebec, when the Mass of St. Hubert is said in the local church.
Hunters, dressed in their hunting clothes, file into the church, also bringing their dogs and guns to be blessed. Then the procession including game wardens and the clergy, enters and exits the church under an archway of guns held aloft by hunters wearing camouflage and orange.
Combine this with a wild game dinner that invites all the community to come in to share the bounty of the wild. Such pageantry solidifies the ethics, spirituality and community acceptance of hunting.
Happy St. Hubert's Day!
The story of St. Hubert's Day with photos of celebrations in Europe and Canada can be found in The Sacred Art of Hunting by James A. Swan, Ph.D., Willow Creek Press, 2000.
James Swan — who has appeared in more than a dozen feature films, including "Murder in the First" and "Star Trek: First Contact," as well as the television series "Nash Bridges," "Midnight Caller" and "Modern Marvels" — is the author of the book "In Defense of Hunting." Click to purchase a copy. To learn more about Swan, visit his Web site.
