Saint Hubert of Aquitaine

It required nothing less than an extraordinary stroke of grace to bring Hubert back from a purely worldly life to a more Christian one. This stroke arrived. God, who had secret designs for him, and was undoubtedly touched by the prayers of so many of Hubert's holy relatives, stopped him in the greatest impetuosity of his blind passion. He transformed him from a hunter of base animals into a zealous apostle who was to carry the light of the Gospel into those very regions that had become the theater of his vain amusements.

Thus, on a day of solemn feast, when the faithful were gathering in crowds in the churches to hear the word of God and attend the holy mysteries, this young lord, accompanied by his men and preceded by a pack of hounds, went into the fore st of the Ardenn forêt d'Ardennes Region of the saint's conversion and apostolate. es to hunt; but

Our Lord used this occasion to touch his heart and win him entirely to Himself. While he was hunting, a stag of remarkable beauty appeared before him, and to his great astonishment he perceived a crucifix between the branches of its antlers, and he heard a voice that said to him: "Hubert, Hubert, how long will you pursue beasts in the forests? How long will this vain passion make you forget the salvation of your soul? Do you not know that you are on earth to know and love your Creator and thus possess Him in heaven?... If you do not convert to the Lord by embracing a holy life, you will fall into the abysses of hell." This spectacle and this voice filled him at once with admiration and fear; he dismounted from his horse, prostrated himself on the ground, adored the cross of his Master that the stag presented to him, and protested that he would abandon the world and devote himself entirely to the holy exercises of religion.

After these protestations, he went to fin d Saint Lambe saint Lambert Abbot of Fontenelle who sent Condède to Belcinac. rt, Bishop of Maastricht, whose virtues and holiness were already well known to him; he chose him as his master in the ways of salvation. Saint Lambert received him with great kindness, kept him by his side for several days to instruct him more perfectly in Christian perfection, and to speak to him of God and heavenly things. Although the miracle of grace had changed Hubert's heart, and he immediately aspired to leave the world and its foolish joys, ties consecrated by religion and justice held him there for a few more years (683-685). Moreover, he still needed this time of trial to correspond to grace, to crucify the old man, to destroy all his sentiments, and to prepare the way for the fulfillment of the designs that Jesus Christ had for his new conquest. Under the direction of Saint Lambert, he made rapid progress in the vocation he had received from heaven. He worked and prayed incessantly to make God reign in his soul. He would have willingly sacrificed his goods, had it been possible at that moment to follow Saint Lambert in the ministry of the word of God and the sanctification of souls.

At the moment when Hubert, obeying only the influence of divine grace in his heart, conceived the thought and the violent desire for a more perfect life, the death of Floribanne occurred. This princess died (685) while giving birth to Floribert, who succeeded Saint Hubert on the episcopal see of Liège. Freed by his wido whood fro Floribert Son of Saint Hubert and his successor as Bishop of Liège. m the obligation to appear in the assemblies of the lords, Hubert carefully avoided the pomp and pleasures of his rank. His heart was already detached from them, but that did not suffice for his ardor; his soul still had too many points of contact with the world, and this world caused him pain. The example and words of Saint Lambert inflamed him so much with divine love that he went so far as to form the project of abandoning the world and embracing the monastic life, in order to lead a more perfect life, closer to God. He felt the same courage as his master, the same love of God, the same zeal for the salvation of souls. He wanted to become his disciple.

He renounced all his dignities and laid down his military insignia to clothe himself in the sacred insignia of religion. He returned the collar and the soldier's belt to King Theuderic; he thought only of trampling underfoot, through some generous action, the glory and the lures of the world. Having become heir to the Duchy of Aquitaine through the death of his father (688), he ceded his rights to his brother Eudon and entrusted his son Floribert, aged three, to him. He thus renounced the most legitimate affections.

Filled with contempt for the riches and goods of the world, Hubert distributed what he possessed to the poor: he found that it was buying the eternal salvation of his soul at a low price to sacrifice these perishable riches to it. He retained from the world only a hair shirt and a breastplate, which he donned to retire into solitude. Thus his sacrifice was accomplished and his divorce from life consummated, through one of those efforts that go even beyond the prescriptions of Christian duty. Worldlings pursued him with their attacks and mockery; but, following the example of other noble contemporaries, his models, he answered the invectives with which he was overwhelmed only with these words: "O happy affronts, to displease with Jesus Christ!"

Hubert had conquered his first enemy, the world, by fleeing it. He had been devoted to it for long enough; he had known its attacks and its innumerable traps; he had been a victim of its false shames, its prejudices, its lies. It was too much. Now he denied it its alleged rights over him; he disobeyed its laws; he braved its slanders; he despised its false reasonings. He retired far from his enemy, now forever vanquished, and went to enjoy the price of his victory in the midst of the mysterious joys of penance.

He had decided on the project of living in retirement, following the example of so many of his contemporaries and other noble companions of the court. But before acting, he consulted God and took the advice of Saint Lambert, to whom he was perfectly submissive. It was through the advice of the holy bishop that he conducted himself in this matter. He chose as the place for his voluntary penance the very places that had been the theater of his favorite pastime; wishing henceforth to expiate on the spot, through a penitent life, the overly violent attachment he had had to the pleasures of the hunt. He therefore went (689) to fix his dwelling in the great forest of the Ardennes, in a place not far from the monastery of Andage (today Saint-Hubert), where, for several years, he led the most austere life. Others claim that Saint Hubert retired to the monastery of Stavelot, which is also in the forest of the Ardennes; but that after a certain time of testing his fidelity, taking advantage of the privilege granted by the Rule of Saint Benedict, he was able to leave that house and go to lead a more austere way of life in complete solitude.

Attentive to watching over himself and to joining the solitude of the soul to that of the body, he feared nothing so much as falling into cowardice and thereby losing the advantages he had procured for himself. After having conquered the world, he worked to conquer himself. Knowing that God mainly accepts the sacrifice of the heart, and that the sacrifices he had made until then would be defective and without merit, that they would even be an act of hypocrisy if he did not join to them the practice of virtues and interior renunciation, he began by establishing himself solidly in humility and self-contempt; he employed all the activity of which his soul was capable to examine the disorder of his affections, to watch over his senses and all the movements of his heart. From then on, prayer, vigils, and macerations became the delights of this hero of penance. His clothing was more an instrument of torture than a shelter against the rigor of the climate in which he lived. His food, like that of other penitents who had preceded him, consisted of a few herbs and roots; pure water was his drink. He thus sought to break the bonds of his prison of flesh and to draw closer to God. If, in the incessant battles that the old man wages against the new, his thought wandered in spite of himself into the midst of the joys and pomps of a worldly life, that voice which had called him a first time still resonated in his heart, and that sufficed to stifle the cry of nature.

Although he was hidden in the midst of solitude, he did not fail to experience the assaults of the tempter. It is in vain that we flee the world; the demon follows us everywhere, and even when we have entrenched ourselves under the protection of the Most High, he always maintains secret intelligence with that domestic enemy who resides in our own heart, who will only die with us, and who seeks to surrender the place to him. It was through his exact vigilance over his senses, his continual austerities, his profound humility, his trust in God, and his fervent prayer that our Saint triumphed over the violent temptations of the demon. The frequent attacks and new ruses of the enemy of salvation did not prevent him from living in the most intimate union with God and in an unalterable tranquility of soul: precious advantages that the man who is accustomed to mortifying his senses and mastering his passions does not fail to obtain. This holy life made the presence of God and His angels as if sensible to him.

We learn from Gilles d'Orval, in his additions to the life of our Saint, composed by Anselin, canon of Liège, that Saint Lambert, desiring that such a dear disciple should receive new increases of grace through the merits of the blessed apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, persuaded him to make a journey to Rome to honor their ashes and to implore, at the foot of their tombs, the favor of their assistance and protection. Hubert obeyed the desire of his master. He left his solitude, went to Rome, and honored the sacred remains of these founders of the religion. While he was there, Saint Lambert was martyred for the reason and in the manner we have described in his life, and at the same hour an angel appeared to Pope Sergius I who, after the office of Mati pape Serge Ier Pope who possibly consecrated Wiron and Plechelm. ns and a long prayer, was taking a little sleep, and presenting to him the pastoral staff of this glorious martyr, urged him to ordain in his place Hubert, whom he would discover in the morning by certain signs in the church of Saint Peter. His Holiness might have doubted this revelation had it not been accompanied by an external sign that made it indubitable; but he knew its truth evidently when, upon waking, he found beside him this precious crosier which had been the mark of the intrepid vigilance and firmness of this great martyr.

There was no longer any question but to find this excellent man whom heaven wished to give him as a successor. They diligently observed all the strangers who entered Saint Peter's, and by the marks the angel had given, he was easily recognized. The Pope, having had him brought before him, made known to him the martyrdom of his master and explained how God had revealed to him that he was to succeed him. He presented to him at the same time the pastoral staff he had used and which Hubert could easily recognize, and exhorted him to bow his neck under this burden that divine Providence wished to impose upon him. Then Hubert, prostrating himself on the ground, protested his unworthiness and urgently begged the sovereign Pontiff to exempt him from this obedience. The revelation he had had did not oblige him to proceed; it was perhaps only to test him and to see if he knew how to keep himself in the last rank that the too free life he had led in the world should have made him keep until death. While he was in this contest of humility, the angel of God, to confirm his supernatural election by a new prodigy, brought to the Pope, in his presence, the pontifical vestments of Saint Lambert, and as a stole was missing, he presented one of white silk which he said had been sent to the Saint by the Blessed Virgin. These miracles took away all means of resistance and finally obliged him to yield. The Pope conferred upon him all the orders he lacked and, then placing in his hand the crosier of Saint Lambert, he consecrated him bishop of Tongeren and Maastricht. It is said that, during this consecration, anothe r wonder o Maëstricht City of which he was elected bishop. ccurred: Saint Peter appeared to him and presented him with a golden key, as he had formerly done to Saint Servatius, one of his predecessors and the one who had transferred the bishopric from Tongeren to Maastricht. God gave him at the same time, by infusion, the sciences necessary for the instruction of his people, with the grace of healings and especially a particular gift for healing the unfortunate afflicted with fury and rabies.

Filled with so many favors and even the apostolic blessing, he departed from Rome and traveled as quickly as possible to his episcopal see. The inhabitants of Maastricht had no difficulty in receiving him, and, although they had not contributed to his election, recognizing nevertheless that it came from heaven, and that it was for this reason that the pontifical vestments and the crozier of Saint Lambert had disappeared and had been transported to Rome, they submitted with joy to his pastoral authority. Hubert, knowing the difference that must exist between the bishop and the people, strove more than ever to provide in his own person examples of all the evangelical virtues. He was humble, sober, chaste, vigilant, modest, restrained in his speech, assiduous in prayer, fervent in all his actions, patient in the face of insults, an enemy of delights, and a great friend of the cross. His life was a continual mortification; he had an extreme desire for martyrdom and could not sufficiently exalt the happiness of his predecessor in having given his blood and his life for the defense of justice and piety. He was the asylum of the poor and the afflicted; all the unfortunate were welcome at his home, he received them as his children, he relieved them in every way possible and supported them with his protection; finally, he earned the glorious nickname of *Refuge of widows* and *Father of orphans*.

One of the most memorable actions of Saint Hubert is the invention and translation of the relics of Saint Lambert. He was moved to make this translation, first by the great miracles that were performed at his tomb, then by various revelations. To be even more certain of the will of God, he ordered a general fast throughout his diocese. When he was certain that divine Providence so ordered it, he summoned his neighboring bishops, namely: those of Cologne, Reims, Tournai, Arras, Amiens, Thérouanne, and Utrecht, and, in their presence, he opened the holy tomb. He found the body of the holy martyr as fresh and as whole as the day of his death and exhaling a very pleasant odor; then, assisted by these venerable prelates, who carried the coffin in turn, he performed the ceremony of this translation. It is impossible to express the honor with which this precious relic was received throughout the march. Thus, it performed great miracles everywhere and brought a great abundance of blessings to Liège. Saint Hubert had a magnificent church built in this place under the name of the Blessed Virgin and that of Saint Lambert, to serve as his burial place and to make the canticles of praise that would be given to his memory resound until the end of time.

Since then, unable to remain separated from the remains of his blessed master, he transferred the seat of his bishopric to this small town. It had already been transferred from Tongeren to Maastricht by Saint Servatius; but God also wished to deprive Maastricht of this honor, to give it to Liège, which by this means has become on e of Liège Episcopal see of the saint. the richest and most powerful cities in Belgium. It was Saint Hubert who began to make it grow with new buildings, who gave it the name and privileges of a city, who regulated its weights and measures for bread, wine, and other merchandise, who wanted it to have as its seal the image of Saint Lambert, with this inscription: *Sancta Legia, romanæ Ecclesiae filia*; "Liège the holy, daughter of the Roman Church." Perhaps he foresaw from then on that Maastricht would one day fall under the power of heretics and would drink the chalice of infidelity that would be presented to it by that harlot woman of the Apocalypse, and that Liège, on the contrary, would remain constant and unshakable in the true religion, without ever suffering Wycliffism, Lutheranism, or Calvinism to be received within its walls. He had a second church built there in honor of Saint Peter, prince of the Apostles, for whom he had an extreme devotion, and placed there fifteen canons whose conversation was very agreeable to him. But since then it has been given to canons and changed into a collegiate church. Finally, he further ennobled this city by the translation of Saint Theodard, one of his predecessors, and of Saint Madelberte, virgin, whom he placed in the same reliquary, next to Saint Lambert.

But nothing equaled the tender devotion of our holy bishop toward the Blessed Virgin. He honored her with a cult full of pious gratitude. During his residence in Maastricht, he frequently went to spend the nights in the church dedicated to the most holy Virgin, entirely occupied with praying to her and honoring her.

His piety did not stop there. He publicly gave striking marks of his affectionate love for the Mother of God. He sought to kindle and maintain in the faithful entrusted to his care this devotion so pleasing to God, so necessary to men. The first church he built was dedicated, as we have said, to the Blessed Virgin; he consecrated a second one to her (742) in the hamlet of Emal, not far from Maastricht. He required that those who asked him for any grace should have recourse to the all-powerful intercession of the Queen of heaven; and he wanted the memory of his devotion toward her to be attached to the signal benefit that he bequeathed to us with his miraculous stole, and to be perpetuated with it so as to be more surely transmitted to us. And even today, the respite is given in the name of the most holy Trinity and of the Blessed Virgin; the prescribed novena is also performed in her honor: so true it is that in all centuries it has always been recognized in the Catholic Church that the Blessed Virgin is filled with all graces, that she is the dispenser of the benefits and graces that the Lord wishes to grant to men: God willing that all the benefits and all the graces that men expect from heaven pass through the hands of Mary and be due to her intercession.

These solemn actions led some authors to call him the founder and first bishop of Liège, although, considering this episcopate as a continuation of that of Tongeren and Maastricht, he was only the thirtieth. From then on, he thought only of extending the faith of Jesus Christ throughout his diocese and its surroundings, destroying what remained of pagan superstitions. To this end, he traveled through the great forest of the Ardennes and the land of Brabant, which then had different boundaries than today, and made so many conversions everywhere that he deserved to be called the Apostle of both. The wonders he performed at all times contributed greatly to this happy success. While visiting his diocese, he met in a village named Vivoch a woman who, for having worked on a Sunday, had lost the use of her hands; her fingers and nails had tightened so much against her palms that it was impossible to separate them. He prayed for her and, upon the promise she made to him to have more respect for feast days henceforth, he commanded these hands to loosen, and by this command alone, he restored them to their former state. The Somme being extremely low and unable to conveniently carry the loaded boats used for some building project he had undertaken, he raised his eyes to heaven, which was immediately covered with clouds, and after a few days, the waters had returned to their ordinary level. By the virtue of the sign of the cross, he cast out from a woman's body a demon that had taken hold of her to disrupt a procession he was holding in the countryside with the shrines of the Saints. By the same sign of the cross, he extinguished a great fire that had broken out in his palace and threatened it with a general conflagration. He delivered from shipwreck, although he was absent, several of his disciples who were already almost submerged at sea and who implored his assistance. He also restored health to many sick people through his prayers and other means that were always effective. He taught his people to resort to processions and to carry the relics of the Saints to obtain rain, to obtain serenity, to clear the fields of insects that spoil them, and for all kinds of public necessities.

Never did the wonders that God performed through his hands make him unfaithful to that profound humility which made him so pleasing before the Lord. Always occupied with the abyss of his own nothingness, he attributed to God the glory of the good that was in him and that he performed for the benefit of others. He gloried only in his infirmities; at the same time that he took pleasure in his abjection, he rejoiced that God alone was great in him and in all creatures. In the midst of the brilliant benefits that God spread through his hands, he expected the success of his ministry only from above. His fervor, far from diminishing, increased day by day and manifested itself by the continuity of his fasts, vigils, and prayers.

To give his prayer the invincible strength with which it was endowed, Hubert had found no better means than the continuous exercise of this precious virtue. From the place of his exile, he maintained a habitual commerce with his heavenly Father. In all the circumstances of his life, he invoked His all-powerful help with confidence, and he received new graces and new favors every day as a reward for his fidelity and perseverance. Despite his numerous duties and his long journeys to bring the bread of the holy word to his people, he knew how to find, in the midst of his fatigues, long hours for meditation and prayer; he knew how to unite with rare happiness the active life and the contemplative life. After having provided, like his divine Master, with laborious solicitude, for the needs of his people, he would retire like Him into solitude to lose himself in the contemplation of His graces and mercies. He prayed sometimes at the tomb of Saint Lambert, in order to nourish his piety by the memory of the courage that had shone in the martyrdom devoted to the defense of truth and chastity; sometimes it was in the forest, where the voice of his Beloved had called him, in order to deplore the misfortune of not having loved this beauty, ever ancient and ever new, sooner. At other times, it was in the fields, during the night, under the vault of heaven, in the midst of this nature whose every detail reminded him of the greatness and mercy of the Creator. All the objects that surrounded him served him admirably to raise his heart toward his God, the unique center of his love. His soul, raised above the senses, discovered a new world, whose riches and beauties ravished it out of itself. The grandeurs and pleasures of the earth, whose deceptive prestiges seduce their unhappy partisans, no longer appeared to him as anything but nothingness; earthly affections and delights no longer had any charms and could not even reach the elevated region where the spirit of prayer and meditation had carried him.

While he had so much gentleness and indulgence for others, he had severity only for himself. A worker having accidentally crushed his hand on a wooden stake, he suffered this pain and distress with marvelous constancy and without asking for healing; he only repeated this verse of the psalm: "Lord, have mercy on me according to your great mercy." His pain having given him a little respite, he fell asleep, and, during his sleep, he saw Jesus Christ who, showing him the beautiful palace of the blessed eternity, said to him: "You see many dwellings in my Father's house, but here is the one I have prepared for you in particular. In a year, I will loosen the bond of your tribulation, I will deliver you, and you will glorify me." This warning gave him new strength to work on the great work of his salvation. He redoubled his vigils, his prayers, and his alms, and made himself more attentive to performing all his actions with perfection. Often he bathed the sepulcher of Saint Lambert with his tears, and from there he went to the church of Saint Peter, where he prostrated himself on the ground before the altar he had consecrated in honor of Saint Aubin. One day, having made a long prayer accompanied by tears and interrupted by sobs, he rose while pronouncing these words: "The just shall be in everlasting remembrance." Then, turning toward the wall, measuring with his arms the size of his sepulcher, he said: "This is the place where I will soon be placed."

However, he was requested by several prominent people of Brabant to come to them to dedicate a new church. He did not wish to refuse them, although he was well aware of the proximity of his death, and he performed this function with his usual zeal and piety; but, as he was traveling up the river to return to Liège, a fever seized him with such violence that he was forced to stop at one of his farms called Tervueren (Fura Ducis), between Brussels and Louvain. Th e holy pr Tervueren Place of death of Saint Hubert. elate, pressed by the pains of agony, saw the enemy of mankind appear in the middle of the night, who tried to frighten him with horrible figures; but he repelled him vigorously by reciting the psalm: Qui habitat in adjutorio Altissimi, and by means of holy water which he had one of his servants bring him. As day began to break, he had his son Floribert and all those of his household come, and bade them a final farewell. Then, being provided with the holy sacraments of the Church, he recited the Symbol of the Faith before everyone, and as he also wished to recite the Lord's Prayer, at these words: "Our Father who art in heaven," he ended his earthly and mortal life to go and possess an eternal and immortal one in heaven, on May 30, 727.

One sees represented, in the church of Saint-Hubert, the principal acts of the Saint's life: 1° The Birth of Saint Hubert: a unique bas-relief on the right lateral face. One sees there, on one side, the statues of three angels presenting the newborn child to Religion, who blesses him; on the other side, four statues representing the various classes of suffering humanity: the poor, the infirm whom religion aids, consoles, and heals. One also sees there the numerous healings of which the newborn child will one day be the author. Above, one perceives in the perspective the Eternal Father whose conservative hand supports the globe of the world that He governs, and whose feet are lost in the clouds of His eternity. Around are seen angels carrying, some, the insignia of the episcopate to which the child will be raised, others, musical instruments, as if to celebrate in heaven the happy birth that will rejoice the earth.

2° The Conversion, in the middle compartment of the large face. The young Frank is hunting in the Hercynian forest, or forest of the Ardennes; a stag carrying the luminous sign of the Redemption between its two antlers appears to him. Hubert prostrates himself; grace penetrates his soul; while the voice of an angel, represented in the painting, cries out to him: "Convert to the Lord, for the abyss is open beneath your steps." One sees in the same painting the various hunting instruments. The stag and the horse appear detached and placed with great art. One sees, however, only their front, the thick forest veils the rest of the body. Above, one perceives in the distance, through the cutouts of the tympanum, the high trees of the forest and the rays of the sun shining on the hunter's conversion, like the light of grace shining in his soul.

3° The Penance, in the middle compartment of the opposite face. Hubert, faithful to his God, has moved away from the court and the world, in order to accomplish his conversion so divinely begun. He lives as an anchorite in the Ardennes forest, dressed in a hair shirt and a corset, fasting and praying. There again, one sees the old trees of the forest raising their tops toward the heaven where the vows and sighs of the penitent rise incessantly. One sees him himself kneeling, praying before a simple cross planted on the still-standing remains of an old trunk. At his side is seen his guardian angel accompanied by another angel carrying a harp which he plucks: a symbol of the salutary enchantment that the two accents of the Saint's word and the ardor of his zeal will excite in the peoples he will be called to evangelize.

4° The Ordination, in the right compartment of the large front face. Hubert is on a pilgrimage to Rome at the moment when the news of the massacre of Saint Lambert by Dodon reaches there. Pope Sergius I, to whom he had been designated by divine revelation as the successor to the massacred bishop, comes, accompanied by his clergy, to find him piously kneeling at the door of Saint Peter's Church; he introduces him and hands him the sacred insignia that one sees in the hands of his Levites.

5° The Miracles, left bas-relief on the same face. Saint Hubert is raised to the episcopal chair of Maastricht. The holy prelate, filled with zeal and tenderness, reaches out his hand to the weak and the afflicted. Children, widows, the indigent, prisoners, surround him on his throne, finding in him a tender father and a savior. Afflicted mothers bring him their infirm children; the blind have themselves led there; the possessed are brought there, and all find there the healing of their ills and the consolation of their sorrows.

6° The Translation of Saint Lambert, in the left compartment of the opposite face. Saint Hubert, following a heavenly warning, has the relics of Saint Lambert transported from Maastricht to the town of Liège, the theater of his master's massacre. The Saint, in bishop's attire, surrounded by his Levites, himself accompanies the funeral procession that poor country folk run to venerate as he passes. And so as not to be separated from these cherished remains, he establishes himself there, and becomes the true founder, as the first bishop of the beautiful city.

7° The Death of Saint Hubert, on the lateral face opposite the one containing his birth. The expiring pontiff is surrounded by his clergy and men of the people: some weeping, others remaining motionless in expectation of his glorious migration. The Saint, supported by his angel, raises his hands to heaven, and in a divine ecstasy, cries out: "I leave this body of mud to appear before my judge!..."

8° The Burial, in the right compartment of the large face opposite his miracles. There, one sees the mortal remains of the Saint, deposited on the funeral shroud, supported by religious who, in the presence of Saint Floribert, successor to the Saint, bury him in Saint Peter's Church in Liège.

One also sees, next to the altar of the chapel called Saint-Hubert, an old painting: it is a gift that the college of Bastogne made to the church of Saint-Hubert in 1666. It represents the Saint striking down a dragon, symbol of defeated paganism; a beautiful dawn appears spreading pleasant glows before which the thick shadows of the night flee: an image of the light of faith that the Saint spread in these poor and ignorant regions. Bishop Hubert dominates the whole painting.

In the choir of the church of Saint-Hubert, on the panels of the stalls on the right side, are drawn features of the Saint's life: 1° One sees Saint Hubert on horseback, in the costume of a count of the palace whose functions he exercised at the court of Theuderic III, King of Neustria; — 2° Saint Lambert, Bishop of Maastricht, blesses the marriage of young Hubert with Floribanne, daughter of the Count of Louvain; — 3° Hubert hunts in the Ardennes forest; the stag, which he pursues, turns back carrying the image of Christ between the branches of its antlers. The hunter, struck with surprise, falls to his knees and submits to the divine will; — 4° Hubert, having arrived in Rome in 696, is introduced into Saint Peter's Church by Pope Saint Sergius, who consecrates him Bishop of Maastricht, successor to Saint Lambert; — 5° Saint Peter hands Saint Hubert a golden key, symbol of the power granted to him to bind and loose on earth, and to heal the furious; — 6° Saint Hubert strikes down, by the sign of the cross, the assassins of Saint Lambert, who came to meet him, upon his return from Rome, to take his life; — 7° Saint Hubert, minister of Him of whom it is written: "The devil shall depart from before his feet," delivers a possessed person; — 8° An angel, deputy of the Blessed Virgin, hands Saint Hubert the miraculous Stole; — 9° Saint Hubert, on his deathbed, expires, surrounded by his son and his servants bursting into tears. These bas-reliefs are treated with much boldness and much talent; their proportions and their perspective are of an admirable effect.

## CULT AND RELICS. — ABBEY OF SAINT-HUBERT.

ORDER OF THE KNIGHTS OF SAINT-HUBERT. — THE HOLY STOLE, THE TAILLE, NOVENA OF SAINT-HUBERT, THE RESPITE. — CONFRATERNITY OF SAINT-HUBERT.

INDULGENCES.

The body of Saint Hubert was transported to Liège, to the church of Saint Peter, where it remained exposed for some time to the veneration of the faithful; then it was deposited in the place that the Saint had designated, near the Saint-Aubin altar, in the collegiate church of Saint Peter, where God did not delay in manifesting by several miracles the holiness of His servant. In 743, Saint Floribert proceeded to the exaltation of his relics in the presence of a numerous gathering of the faithful. King Carloman wished to attend this ceremony with his entire court. The body was found without any alteration and exhaling a pleasant odor. Full of admiration for this token of divine mercy, the king wished to remove this sacred and odoriferous body from the grave himself, with the help of the great men of his court, and carry it processionally into the church. The remains of the Saint were placed in a new coffin, and it was deposited before the high altar, where they were revered for eighty-two years. The king made rich gifts to the church of Saint Peter on this occasion, and bequeathed to it by testament lands and numerous revenues. This exaltation took place on November 3: the feast of Saint Hubert was fixed to this day throughout the Catholic Church.

On September 21, 825, the Bishop of Liège, Walcand, opened the tomb of the Saint in the presence of Louis the Pious and an innumerable crowd of faithful. The body of the holy Pontiff was found in the same state of preservation as it had been found during the first translation. His flesh had been preserved as intact as the day of his burial. This sacred body was then transported amidst extraordinary pomp to the church of Saint Lambert, where it remained again exposed for three days to the veneration of the faithful. After this time, the bishop handed over this precious deposit into the hands of the monks of Andage, who transported it solemnly to their monastery.

Arrived at their destination, the monks opened the coffin and assured themselves again that the holy body was whole; they removed the miraculous stole, the ivory crozier, a sandal, the comb, and the horn, both of ivory; all objects that are still shown today, with the exception of the sandal. The precious remains were then deposited in a burning chapel of the church, raised by Berengis and repaired by Walcand. Scarcely had the body of Saint Hubert arrived at Andage, than the peoples came in crowds to pray in the places sanctified by his penance and by the presence of his august relics: this tender confidence of the faithful was rewarded by numerous miracles. The striking healings obtained by his intercession and the use of his miraculous stole, in serious illnesses and for dangerous bites, attracted to Andage a crowd of pilgrims so great that this pilgrimage was soon placed among the most famous pilgrimages of the Christian world. The name of Andage disappeared as if by enchantment before the love of the peoples for the name of Saint-Hubert.

The small town of Saint-Hubert contains today about 2,200 inhabitants. Its origin must not go back beyond 817; it owes it, with its successive developments and its resources, to the monastery of the place. It was originally only a poor village of poor people and workers who came to lean their huts against the walls of the monastery from which they received food, instruction, and lands all cleared and exempt from contributions. When the relics of Saint Hubert were transferred to Andage (825), the numerous miracles that occurred on his tomb and especially the marvelous effects of the holy stole attracted a crowd of pilgrims, merchants, and foreigners who little by little fixed their dwellings there to be closer to the patronage of the Saint and the monastery: which considerably increased the number of huts. From then on the village existed; the patron saint gave it his name; its prosperity increases with the reputation of the holy stole and with the benefits of the monastery. Constantly protected by the abbots, this village arrives insensibly at the state of a town. Even today, its beautiful church and the famous relics attract a large number of pilgrims and foreigners from all points of Christendom: which constitutes in large part the resource of the inhabitants. The rich flashes of the abbatial crozier have not served less to create some fortunes there. Beautiful roads opened recently put it in communication with other countries and bring there every day a crowd of travelers who, although frightened by the rigor of the climate and the aspect of the soil, nevertheless let themselves be attracted there by the celebrity of the pilgrimage. Upon arriving, everything speaks to them of the patron; his traces, his memories are met everywhere; his name is in all memories and on all lips, as on all parts of the monument.

The pious pilgrim hastens to go and make his prayer before the altar of the Saint; the more curious and less hurried traveler stops to contemplate the sumptuous buildings of the abbatial palace; he asks for the origin of the abbey, its progress, and its suppression.

Here is the occasion for which the monastery of Andage, today Saint-Hubert, was founded: there was in the center of the Ardennes forest, not far from a Roman road, a fortified castle named Ambra, the chief town of the Amberloux domain. Saint Maternus, Bishop of Tongeren, had erected a church there and had dedicated it to Saint Peter. The Huns, in ravaging the Gauls, had demolished this fortified castle from top to bottom with the church: it was only ruins for two hundred and thirty-seven years. Berengis, chaplain of Pepin of Herstal, having obtained from him the donation of this place, went to take possession of Ambra in 687, leading with him monks from the monastery of Saint-Trond and some faithful friends. Aided by their help, he cleared this desert and made it habitable. He raised from its ruins the church that formerly existed in this castle, and which Saint Maternus had dedicated to Saint Peter; he directed the small community of monks in the service of God. Such was the origin of the monastery of Andage, of which Berengis was the founder and the first abbot.

After the death of Berengis, the fervor slowed down little by little among the monks; the buildings fell into ruin, and soon the monastery was inhabited only by a small number of solitaries, who had recourse to the Bishop of Liège, Walcand, so that he might improve their position. The latter had the church repaired and the buildings that were falling into ruin raised; he added new constructions to it which he extended a little more to the east, toward the fountain that gave the name of Andage (Andalman or Andagium) to the monastery. In 817, he suppressed the community of the clerics of Andage and replaced them with Benedictine religious drawn from the monastery of Saint Peter, in Liège, founded by Saint Hubert, to whom he granted rich possessions and numerous revenues. The monastery acquired great goods in a short time. From 825 to 837, several parishes contracted the custom of coming each year in procession to the church of Saint Peter in Saint-Hubert, and of bringing there each its offering. It is also to this period that one must report the origin of the confraternities of Saint-Hubert, another source of income for the abbey. Entire families and provinces, desiring to put themselves under the protection of the Saint and to have a share in the prayers of the religious, committed themselves to paying an annual rent to Saint-Hubert. From there came the expression still used, to be rented, which means today to be registered in the Confraternity of Saint-Hubert. This confraternity was approved and enriched with indulgences by the popes Julius II, in 1510, and Leo X, in 1515. The Dukes of Bouillon, the Counts of Flanders, of Namur, of Montaigu, of Durbuy, of Chiguy, of Mouson, declared themselves the protectors and defenders of the church of Saint-Hubert. Later, Charles V, Charles the Bold, and Henry IV took the monastery under their protection. Fourteen sovereign Pontiffs, from Saint Gregory VII to Urban VIII, gave bulls or rescripts in favor of the abbey of Saint-Hubert, granted it numerous privileges, and launched anathema against anyone who would infringe upon the movable or immovable property that it possessed or would acquire in the future. In 1090, the monastery of Saint-Hubert shone with its brightest luster, and the Rule of Saint Benedict flourished there with all the perfection of religious life. Saint-Hubert gave birth to some men who made a name for themselves in letters and arts, and whose glory still returns to the monastery; it has also, in all times, produced great men to govern other monasteries. The Popes entrusted important missions to its abbots.

The state of the monastery was prosperous until about the year 1096. Then, its temporal goods were squandered and the monastery itself put to pillage by the agents of the simoniac Otbert of Brandenburg, Prince-Bishop of Liège. Around 1130, a fire consumed the monastery church, which was rebuilt by Abbot Gislebert and finished by his successor, John of Waha: it was the third church built in the same place. It was also around this time that the monastery received by donation the farm called Connerserie, located about a league northeast of the monastery. It is in this place that Saint Hubert hunting met the miraculous stag; it is there again that, according to the most accredited tradition, he spent several years of penance. A chapel built there in memory of these two great facts of the Saint's life consecrated this memory for a long time; one could still see the ruins of it in 1535. From 1200 to 1415, the temporal affairs of the monastery were re-established considerably; the morals and discipline also received a happy reform; but the second half of the 15th century was again a time of misfortunes and sufferings for the monastery. The country was delivered to such disorder as a result of the wars, that often armed people penetrated into the abbey, pillaged it, and went so far as to strike and wound the monks. The beginning of the 16th century opened a new era for the monastery. Nicolas de Malaise, elected abbot in 1503, re-established a severe discipline and obtained several privileges from the popes Julius II and Leo X. A silver shrine, which a skillful monk had adorned with gold and precious stones, enclosed the body of the Saint which remained exposed in the church to the veneration of the faithful. The monastery, protected by the Popes and the temporal princes, was prospering in all respects, when, on January 20, 1525, a fire broke out in the town and consumed most of the monastery buildings and a large part of the church. As a result of this disaster, the Abbot of Malaise conceived the design of raising a vaster and more beautiful church than the one the fire had just destroyed. He kept from this one only the towers which he had repaired and the portal of the transept, and he laid the foundations of the current church. It is said that the stones of this church were brought at great expense from Namur and Maastricht. When the facade was repaired, in 1844, the stones also had to be brought from Sprimont, near Liège.

In 1568, the monastery was pillaged and the church burned by a band of Huguenots; but the relics were put in a safe place by the monks warned in time of their approach. After the return of the religious, the community found itself in such a state of deprivation, that the abbot saw himself obliged to sell the silverware of the church, and even the silver shrine that enclosed the body of Saint Hubert. A new fire soon came to increase the losses of the abbey, which still had to undergo all sorts of violence from the provincial council of the Duchy of Luxembourg. Abbot Jean de Bulla (1585-1599) raised the towers of the church which he endowed with bells and a beautiful carillon; he repaired the organ devastated by the fire of the Huguenots and increased it considerably. However, the monastery still had much to suffer from the continual state of the wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. The relaxation of monastic discipline inspired Abbot Nicolas de Fanson (1611-1633) to introduce a new reform (1618), which brought the obstinate religious back to the primitive regularity of the Order of Saint Benedict, and replaced the monastery at the level of its former splendor. The abbey was in a prosperous state, when in 1633 a fire came again to consume the quarters of the abbot and the brothers, the library, and rich furniture. Under Abbot Cyprien Maréchal (1602-1686), the church received two marble altars, a rood screen, an organ that still exists, and rich priestly ornaments. The vault of the great nave was finished (1683). Clément Lefebvre (1686-1727) replaced the beautiful Gothic facade, which had collapsed in part in the fire of the Huguenots, with the current facade; he had the sanctuary and the choir paved with marble, and their elegant marble enclosure begun, which was only finished under his successor, Célestin de Joug (1727-1760). The latter built the beautiful buildings of the abbey as they are still seen; but the pomp of his administration entailed excessive expenses, which were further increased by the unfortunate speculations and the fruitless enterprises of Nicolas Spirlet, the last abbot of Saint-Hubert, who was obliged to emigrate to Prussia where he died in 1794. Finally arrived the republican vandalism; the religious were expelled from the abbey (1796); with them went the rich treasure of the church and the monastery, whose goods were sold for the benefit of the nation. In 1807, the church was doomed to destruction, but it was bought back to be returned to the piety of the faithful and to the Catholic cult (1808), and Mgr Pisani, Bishop of Namur, erected it as a parish church (1809). From this time on, the church, deprived of sufficient income, had much to suffer from the ravages of time and the negligence of men. In 1843, King Leopold I, at the sight of the edifice whose architectonic merit he recognized, endowed it magnificently and since then it has been considered a national monument. As for the buildings of the abbey, after having belonged to the province of Luxembourg and to private individuals, they have returned to the domain of the government which has established there a penitentiary house for young delinquents.

The principal relic, the one that especially attracts attention and respect, is the stole that belonged to Saint Hubert and which performs marvelous effects every day. It is enclosed in a small silver box that succeeded a gold reliquary of admirable workmanship. According to ancient documents that have reached us, it is noted that the holy stole was used, from the 9t sainte étole Relic sent by the Virgin Mary, used to cure rabies. h century, as an infallible remedy against rabies, provided that the patient had true faith and observed the prescriptions ordered for this healing. Thus, we see from that time the established custom of going in procession to Saint-Hubert: a custom contracted on the occasion of numerous miracles. The more the noise of these wonders spread far and wide, the more one saw the crowd of unfortunates of all kinds increase, who came to solicit the healing of their ailments. The Saint's stole was known everywhere for its miraculous effects. Its virtue consists mainly in preserving from the consequences of the venom of rabies those to whom it has been communicated, whether by the bite of an animal affected by this terrible disease, or by blood, saliva, breath, infected food, or in any other way.

Medicine has no certain remedy against rabies; it is limited to indicating preventive precautions to prevent the rabid virus from being absorbed and carried into the blood circulation. One goes more simply to Saint-Hubert to infallibly grant the healing of rabies, whatever the way in which the virus is absorbed. Here is how this healing is obtained:

As soon as a person believes themselves infected with the venom of rabies, they go to Saint-Hubert; if they have been bitten to the blood by a rabid animal, they undergo the operation called the 'Taille' (Incision); if they have not la Taille A rite of frontal incision to insert a fragment of a stole as a remedy for rabies. been bitten to the blood, they receive the 'Répit' (Respite). After which the person returns home and performs a novena. They are assured of their healing. Here is how the operation of the 'Taille' is done: The chaplain makes a small incision on the forehead of the person who has been bitten; the epidermis being slightly raised with the help of a punch, he introduces into the incision a tiny piece of the fabric of the holy stole, and maintains it there with the help of a narrow band of black cloth, which must be worn for nine days, that is to say during a novena which is prescribed at Saint-Hubert.

Here are the ten articles of the novena of Saint-Hubert: the person, to whom a piece of the holy stole has been inserted into the forehead, must observe the following articles:

« 1° They must confess and receive communion under the guidance and good advice of a wise and prudent confessor who can dispense them; — 2° they must sleep alone in clean white sheets, or else fully clothed when the sheets are not white; — 3° they must drink from a particular glass or other vessel; and must not lower their head to drink at fountains or rivers, without however worrying, even if they were to look at or see themselves in the rivers or mirrors; — 4° they may drink red, clear, and white wine mixed with water, or drink pure water; — 5° they may eat white bread or other, the flesh of a male pig of one year or more, capons or hens also of one year or more, fish bearing scales, such as herrings, kippers, carp, etc.; hard-boiled eggs; all these things must be eaten cold; salt is not forbidden; — 6° they may wash their hands and rub their face with a fresh cloth, the custom is not to shave during the nine days; — 7° one must not comb one's hair for forty days, the novena included; — 8° on the tenth day, one must have the band removed by a priest, have it burned, and put the ashes in the piscina; — 9° one must keep the feast of Saint Hubert every year, which is the third day of November; — 10° and if the person were to receive from some rabid animals the wound or bite that went to the blood, they must perform the same abstinence for the space of three days, without the need to return to Saint-Hubert; — 11° they may finally give a respite or delay of forty days to all persons who are wounded or bitten to the blood or otherwise infected by some rabid animals.

This novena is found to be established from time immemorial. It has been observed since one began to have recourse to Saint Hubert. Since the 9th century, since the time of Saint Hubert himself, the constant and established usage was to practice what this novena prescribes, to obtain the signaled benefit which has always been granted to those who asked for it through this practice. Is it not legitimate to conclude that this novena expresses the dispositions that Saint Hubert asked of those he healed during his life? If the observance of the novena is a condition of healing, it is because the humility and obedience that make one embrace practices which, far from having anything reprehensible, contain only acts of piety, prudence, and penance, dispose the soul to a more lively and better-founded confidence, and thus to the blessings of Him who looks upon the humble with love and turns His eyes from the proud and the disdainful.

The 'Répit' (Respite) consists of ensuring against rabies those persons bitten, or otherwis e infect Le Répit Spiritual delay granted to those bitten before the pilgrimage. ed by rabid animals, until they can go to Saint-Hubert to be definitively secured. Historical tradition traces the origin of the power to give the 'Répit' back to Saint Hubert. Add to this that continuous facts confirm this tradition every day. The chaplains serving the chapel of Saint-Hubert and the persons who have undergone the 'Taille' can alone give this 'Répit'.

The chaplains, attached to the work of Saint Hubert, can give 'Répit' for a term or for life. — Persons who have undergone the 'Taille' can give it only for forty days, as their instruction states in no. 11; but they can repeat it every forty days. — One has seen persons bitten to the blood content themselves with going to ask for the 'Répit' every forty days, for thirty-eight years, from a person who had undergone the 'Taille' living several leagues from their place, and come after that time to be 'taillés' (incised) at Saint-Hubert.

The 'Répit' is granted to persons bitten by an animal that gives only doubtful signs of hydrophobia, or to whom the bite has not gone as far as drawing blood, or even to persons who believe themselves infected with the venom of rabies in any way whatsoever. — It is also granted to children who have not made their first communion, and who are not prepared to do so, whatever their wound. — Of two children bitten to the blood by the same rabid animal and in the same circumstances, one is 'taillé' because they can fulfill the conditions of the novena; the other, too young, receives the 'Répit' for a term, and never has confidence in the 'Répit' been deceived. Before the expiration of the term, they must return to Saint-Hubert to be 'taillé', or have recourse to the 'Répit' of forty days. — Parents ask for the 'Répit' for small children: this practice was already in use as early as 1550.

Finally, 'Répit' is given to persons seized by fear. One knows well enough the sad effects that fear entails in the body and the intellectual disorders that result from it. The 'Répit' never fails to boost the patient's morale, to banish the disease of fear entirely from their mind, and to reassure them against the danger of rabies, however imminent it may seem to them. Strong-minded people may see in this 'Répit' only a vain ceremony, a childish and unreasonable practice, but we can do nothing about it. The results obtained every day stand there like unshakeable walls against which all arguments break.

The effect produced by the Holy Stole on declared rabies is that the persons who have undergone the 'Taille' have the power, a thousand times recognized, to stop, calm, and cause rabid animals to perish without being troubled by them.

At Saint-Hubert, they bless Keys or Cornets that are touched to the Holy Stole: It is a conical iron about ten centimeters in length and five millimeters in thickness, ending in a kind of seal representing a cornet. The use of these keys or cornets is sufficiently indicated in the following Instruction:

« As soon as one notices that an animal has been bitten or infected by another, one must make the cornet or key red-hot in the fire and imprint it on the wound itself, if that can be done conveniently, otherwise on the forehead down to the raw flesh, and keep said animal enclosed for nine days, so that the venom cannot dilate through any immoderate agitation.

« Healthy animals will also be marked on the forehead, but it will not be necessary to keep them enclosed.

« This done, someone in the family, whether for one or several livestock, will begin the same day to recite, for nine consecutive days, five Paters and Aves, in honor of God, of his glorious Mother, and of Saint Hubert. During all this time, one will give said animal every day, before any other food, a piece of bread or a little oats blessed by a priest, in honor of Saint Hubert.

« The marvelous virtue of these cornets for livestock is sufficiently confirmed by daily experience, and even if, despite this precaution, rabies were to be communicated to such an animal, one sees that it dies without harming the others.

« It would be an abuse, and these keys would be profaned, if one used them to mark men, or if one imprinted them on wood or anything else, when they are red-hot in the fire, since they are blessed only to mark animals.

« It would be an abuse to believe that they are profaned when one lets them fall to the ground, or when one touches them with the hand.

« It is a criminal abuse to use the cornets or keys of Saint-Hubert to earn money, or any other gift. The mere intention of receiving some makes these cornets useless, to obtain the effect one hopes for from them, and consequently, they are profaned ».

It is a fact attested by thousands of witnesses that animals marked on the forehead with the key of Saint-Hubert, if they are bitten by other rabid animals, are in no way to be feared; for even in the case where rabies would be communicated to them, one sees them die without harming either people or other animals.

In order to preserve oneself from rabies, one wears devoutly on one's person objects blessed and touched to the miraculous Stole of Saint Hubert, such as crosses, rings, rosaries, medals, etc. Another very common means to obtain the protection of Saint Hubert against hydrophobia is to have oneself registered in the Confraternity of Saint Hubert.

The indulgences granted either to the brothers and sisters of the Confraternity of Saint Hubert in the Ardennes, formerly the diocese of Liège, presently the diocese of Namur, or to other faithful who visit the church dedicated to this great Saint, are as follows:

1° Plenary indulgence on the first day of their reception into said Confraternity, to all those men and women who, truly penitent and having confessed, have received communion on said day of their reception.

2° Plenary indulgence to those who, at the article of death, invoke devoutly and from the heart (if they cannot with the mouth) the most holy Name of Jesus.

3° Plenary indulgence on the day of Saint Hubert (principal feast of the Confraternity), from the first Vespers until sunset of said day, in favor of those who, with the same dispositions as above, will visit the church of said Saint and will pray for the intentions of the sovereign Pontiff.

4° Indulgence of seven years, and as many quarantines, to those who, being similarly disposed as above, will visit said church, on the feasts of Pentecost, the Holy Sacrament, the Assumption, and the Conception of the holy Virgin, and will pray for the intentions of the sovereign Pontiff.

5° Indulgence of sixty days, to those who, with a heart at least contrite, will practice devoutly some work of piety, such as accompanying the Holy Sacrament when it is carried to the sick, or in legitimately authorized processions; teaching the ignorant the articles of our faith and the commandments of God; reciting five times the Pater and the Ave Maria, either for the sick or the dying, or for the souls of deceased Confreres; lodging pilgrims, etc. This indulgence of sixty days is granted for each of said works of piety, and as many times as one will exercise them.

6° Plenary indulgence, once each year only, to all the faithful of one or the other sex, who truly contrite and being confessed and having received communion, will visit devoutly the aforesaid church of Saint-Hubert in the Ardennes, and will pray there for concord between Christian princes, the extirpation of heresies, and the exaltation of our Mother the holy Church.

7° Plenary indulgence to all the faithful who, truly contrite and being confessed and having received communion, will visit devoutly each year said church, on the day of the feast of Saint Hubert, and the nine consecutive days which immediately precede it, and will pray there for the ordinary ends expressed in no. 6. This plenary indulgence can be gained only once a year, in the space of said days, at the choice of each faithful.

8° Remission of two hundred days of penances enjoined or otherwise owed, in any way whatsoever, during each of the eight other days designated in no. 7, granted in the accustomed form of the church, to said faithful who, at least contrite, will visit said church and pray as above.

To be able to gain the indulgences indicated in the first five numbers above, which are granted in perpetuity, according to an Apostolic Rescript of September 7, 1814, one must be of the Confraternity. The other indulgences mentioned in nos. 6, 7, and 8, granted ad septemnium, by two Briefs given in Rome, September 9, 1814, can be gained without being of said Confraternity.

It is a universal tradition in the monastery, in the Church of Liège, and everywhere the Saint is known, that his body is hidden in a secret vault of the church where it was placed as a measure of prudence, and that the monks who knew of his retreat, given the disorders of the times, took the secret with them to the grave. It was only towards the end of the 16th century that the shrine which contained his sacred remains was no longer exposed to the veneration of the faithful.

Autray, formerly an abbey of regular canons and presently a minor seminary of the diocese of Saint-Dié, possesses a bone of the foot or hand, attributed to Saint Hubert. This relic was the object of a considerable pilgrimage. The chapel of Saint-Hubert, with a flat vaulted ceiling with coffers, still exists; it is from the Renaissance period and of the same style as the Bishops' chapel in the cathedral of Toul; it was adorned with very remarkable painted stained glass windows, of which only a part is seen at the museum of Épinal. In 1495, the religious of Saint-Hubert in the Ardennes attacked the truth of the relic of Autray, alleging that the body of the holy bishop of Tongeren rested entire in their monastery. The question was pleaded before the bishop of Basel, then, in 1513, before the bishop of Toul; a few years later it was brought to the court of Rome. It was not judged as to the merits. Indeed, such questions cannot be settled by a sentence of authority. The relic of Autray, which has a notorious possession of centuries, cannot be dispossessed except by the exhibition of the body of Saint Hubert entire, and without any alteration in any of its members; now, at Saint-Hubert of the Ardennes, one is not in a position to provide the proof of this assertion advanced nearly four centuries ago.

Since 1792, the relic of Saint Hubert of the abbey of Autray has been kept in the parish church of Rambervillers, which is ten kilometers away. On that date, a priest of this city, on horseback, and followed by a certain number of horsemen, carried out its removal and translation at the moment when it would not have failed to perish forever. This last fact, which would have been curious to recount, is quite notorious in the region, but has not yet been verified by any act.

Limé, in the canton of Braine, possesses a relic of Saint Hubert, bishop of Liège, who died in 727. Everyone knows that this holy bishop is especially invoked against rabies; this is what, for several centuries, has brought a large number of pilgrims to Limé. It is presumed that at the time when the raids of the Normans worried the peace of the monasteries of the North, the religious of the famous abbey of Saint-Hubert, in the Ardennes, transported the relics of their patron saint to Limé, and that, in gratitude, they gave one of his bones to the church of the place.

« These holy relics », says an old report, drawn up in 1735, by the order of the bishop of Soissons, « have been from time immemorial revered by the people, under the invocation of Saint Hubert, notably by those who had had the misfortune of being bitten by rabid beasts; who have often felt the protection of this great Saint, having incurred no damage from their wounds; facts which it is easy to prove by the subjects still existing, who do not cease to publish it, by going assiduously each year, in gratitude, to said Limé, place of his cult, etc. »

The inhabitants of Limé hold from tradition that no rabid beast has ever committed the slightest havoc in the territory of their commune.

We have used, to review and complete this biography, the *Pèlerinage de Saint-Hubert en Ardennes*, by M. l'abbé Bertrand; the *Antiquités du diocèse de Soissons*, by M. l'abbé Lequeux; and *Notes* provided by M. l'abbé Deblaye, parish priest of Imling.