Some 1,200 years ago lived a stout Bishop of Liege named Hubert. A mighty hunter was he, whose horn would sound right valiantly through the Forest of Ardennes. After his death Hubert was sainted; he had traditionally been converted on a Good Friday when, hunting, he saw a miraculous stag with a shining crucifix between its antlers. A patron of hunters, St. Hubert may be invoked in cases of hydrophobia.
In Europe it is now customary to bless the hounds before the season's first hunt, often on St. Hubert's feast-day, Nov. 3. Not many U. S. Hunts have adopted the practice. This...
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