Hubert of Liège (Latinized: Hubertus; c. 656 – 30 May 727) was a Christian saint who became the first bishop of Liège in 708 A.D. He is a patron saint of hunters, mathematicians, opticians and metalworkers. Known as the "Apostle of the Ardennes", he was called upon, until the early 20th century, to cure rabies through the use of the traditional Saint Hubert's Key.
Hubert was widely venerated during the Middle Ages. The iconography of his legend is entangled with the legend of the martyr Saint Eustace. The Bollandists published seven early lives of Hubert (Acta Sanctorum, November 3, 759 – 930 A.D.); the first of these was the work of a contemporary, although it offers few details.
Hubert died 30 May 727 A.D. in or near a place called (in Latin) Fura. In the later Middle Ages, this location was claimed to have been identified as Tervuren near Brussels; recent scholarship, however, considers Voeren (Fourons), a location much closer to Liège than Brussels, to be the saint's likelier resting place. His feast day is 3 November.
Hubert of Liège was a Frank; the Franks were originally a Germanic people.
"Hubert" is a Germanic masculine given name, from hug "mind" and beraht "bright".
"Hubertus" is a Latinized form of "Hubert". Other forms of the name include Hugubert, Hughbert, Hugo, Hubrecht, Hugubrecht, Hudson, and Hugh.
Hubert was born about the year 658, the eldest son of a Frankish duke.. As a youth, Hubert was sent to the Neustrian court of Theuderic III (r. 673–691) at Paris, where his charm and agreeable address led to his investment with the dignity of "count of the palace". Like many nobles of the time, Hubert was a hunting enthusiast.
About this time (682), Hubert married Floribanne, daughter of Dagobert, Count of Leuven. (Their son Floribert of Liège later would succeed his father as Bishop of Liège - in office: 727 to c. 737; bishoprics were all but accounted as fiefs heritable in the great families of the Merovingian kingdoms.) Hubert moved to the Austrasian court where he was warmly welcomed by Pepin of Herstal, Mayor of the palace, who entitled him almost immediately Grand Master of the household.
Hubert's wife died giving birth to their son Floribert, and his grief prompted him to retreat from the court. He withdrew into the forests of the Ardennes and gave himself up entirely to hunting.
Legend holds that on a Good Friday morning, while the faithful were in church, Hubert was hunting in the forest. As he pursued a magnificent stag or hart, the animal turned and Hubert was astounded to see a crucifix floating between its antlers. He heard a voice saying: "Hubert unless thou turnest to the Lord and leadest a holy life, thou shalt quickly go down into Hell." Hubert dismounted and prostrated himself, and after asking "Lord, what wouldst Thou have me do?" is told, "Go and seek Lambert, and he will instruct you."
The story of the stag first appears in one of the later legendary hagiographies (Bibliotheca hagiographic Latina, nos. 3994–4002) and has been appropriated from the legend of Saint Eustace a.k.a. Placidus (Placidus was Eustace's name before he was baptized). The stag story was only attributed to Saint Hubert in the 15th century.
Hubert set out immediately for Maastricht, to meet Lambert, a bishop who received him kindly and became his spiritual director. Hubert renounced all his very considerable honors and gave up his birthright to the Aquitaine to his younger brother, Odo, whom he made guardian of his infant son, Floribert. Having distributed all his personal wealth among the poor, Lambert sent him to the Ardennes to live amongst the people and the forest creatures. Hubert studied for the priesthood, was ordained, and soon afterward became one of Lambert's chief associates in the administration of his diocese. At the request of Lambert, Hubert made a pilgrimage to Rome in 708 in Lambert's name, but during his absence, Lambert was assassinated in Liège by the followers of Pepin. According to the hagiographies of Hubert, this act was simultaneously revealed to the pope in a vision, together with an injunction to appoint Hubert bishop of Maastricht.
Hubert distributed his episcopal revenues among the poor, was diligent in fasting and prayer, and became well known for his eloquence in the pulpit. In 720, in obedience to a vision, Hubert translated St. Lambert's remains from Maastricht to Liège with great pomp and ceremony, with several neighboring bishops assisting. A basilica for the relics was built upon the site of Lambert's martyrdom, and was consecrated as a cathedral the following year, the see being removed from Maastricht to Liège, then only a small village. This laid the foundation of the future greatness of Liège, of which Lambert is honored as patron, and Hubert as founder and first bishop.
Hubert actively evangelized among pagans in the extensive Ardennes forests and in Toxandria, a district stretching from near Tongeren to the confluence of the rivers Waal and the Rhine. He gained the trust (and the faith) of its people through the outdoorsman skills he acquired in his hunting life. He became a sought authority whenever matters of the forest came up.
Hubert died peacefully in a place called Fura, located 30 miles from Liège, 30 May 727 or 728. Initially he was buried in the collegiate St Peter's Church, Liège, but his bones were transported to the Benedictine Abbey of Amdain in the Ardennes in 825. The abbey became a locus for pilgrimages, until Hubert's coffin disappeared during the Reformation. His feast day is 3 November, probably the date of the translation of his relics to Amdain.
Hubert was widely venerated in the Middle Ages and partly because of his noble birth, several military orders were named after him: the Bavarian, the Bohemian International Order of St. Hubertus and that of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne.
Hubert, along with Quirinus of Neuss, Cornelius and Anthony, was venerated as one of the Four Holy Marshals (Vier Marschälle Gottes) in the Rhineland. The St. Hubertus Orden (Order of Saint Hubert), a chivalric order, was founded in 1444 by Gerhard V of Jülich and Berg.
In the Anglican Communion, at least two churches have been dedicated to Saint Hubert within the Church of England.