unless stated otherwise.
Saint Eustace And His Companions.
Martyrs.
Feast Day 20 September.
Double.
Red Vestments.
Wall Painting in Canterbury Cathedral, Saint Eustace sees Jesus standing, without a Cross, between the horns of a Stag.
This is a reconstruction of the Wall Painting in Canterbury Cathedral, painted half-size by E.W. Tristram in 1929.
Photo: 24 April 2023.
Source: Own work.
Author: ProfDEH
(Wikimedia Commons)
Eustace, also called Placidus, was illustrious at Rome, for his birth, his riches, and his Military valour. "One day," says the Legend, "while he was hunting a stag of extraordinary size, the animal suddenly turned and between its horns was seen a Crucifix."
Called by The Saviour, Eustace henceforth only pursued immortal life and, with his wife and two children, he enrolled himself in The Christian Militia. The Benedictine Abbey of Subiaco possessed for a long time the mountain where, according to Tradition, was shown the spot where the apparition had taken place.
Made a General in the Army by The Emperor Trajan, Eustace returned victorious from an expedition, but, having refused to thank the gods for this triumph, he was arrested and exposed to the Lions with his wife and children. The wild beasts, however, did them no harm.
"They were then shut up in a red-hot brazen bull," declares The Martyrology. "and their Martyrdom was completed by this torture." This was under Emperor Hadrian in 120 A.D.
Saint Eustace is one of The Fourteen Auxiliary Saints (see The Feast Day for 25 July).
Mass: Sapiéntiam.
Commemoration: The Vigil of Saint Matthew.
