Full crosspost from “THETIMMAN” … go visit him at Saint Louis Catholic.
Today is the Feast of St. Eustace, or Eustachius, if you will. He is patron saint of hunters and also against family discord. I chose the photo above because of the nifty hunting motif on the frieze. And because it is one of my favorite memories, having visited Amboise with my wife and two of my daughters in 2014. As an aside, the chapel above contains the tomb of Leonardo da Vinci.
St. Eustace was martyred in A.D. 118 under Emperor Hadrian. He was a Roman general who converted after seeing the sign of the Cross over the antlers of a deer he was hunting. Kind of like this:
Now, Jaegermeister was not yet invented, so St. Eustace didn’t get any ideas from subliminal messaging, nor was he drunk. Instead, like Constantine, he saw the sign of the Son of God and knew he had. He gave Christ his grateful allegiance. All it cost him at first was the loss of his estates, and separation from his family at grievous cost.
Gotta love the pagans, you know. Because later, when he was useful to them, the Roman empire brought him back as a general and he led its troops to victory in battle. He was given back his rank and unexpectedly reunited with his family.
But, just like their modern counterparts in the NWO, once he served his purpose to them the pagans demanded he sacrifice to the deathvaxx and mother earth idols. He refused, loyal to the King of Kings.
Therefore, he and his reunited family were thrown to wild animals. The animals refused to eat them, so the emperor ordered the whole family to be put into a brazen bull to die in agony. They died, but the flames did not burn them up. Thus ended the earthly lives of these great early martyrs.
Maybe you’ll think of St. Eustace and companions when you are forced to down a shot of Jaegermeister at a friend’s house. Maybe you will face nothing more unpleasant in your life than that, but if you do it may be fitting training.
I submit this great saint’s example, timely as the Church’s examples always are, for your meditation today, pondering the trials and martyrdom which will likely await many of us. Pray for God’s strength, for we have none. And pray for the intercession of St. Eustace, who intercedes for us in Heaven.
Oremus pro invicem. St. Eustace and companions, pray for us!
St. Eustacemerister Day indeed.
Thank you for this post! Jaegermeister is worth a try however. It is a great herbal digestive. Put it in the freezer and drink it cold as an option. The German folk here in Cincinnati celebrate this hunter’s feast day with Holy Mass and good food.
Perhaps you would prefer Chartreuse, another herbal liquor. It has a very complex, secret recipe that only a few monks at a time have memorized, and have passed down through the years. It’s definitely worth trying, if you haven’t already. But tastes vary, and de gustibus, and all that.