The legend has it that St. Eustace was a pagan cavalry officer to whom Christ appeared in the form of a deer with a crucifix between its antlers. This led to his conversion, for which he was executed on the order of the Emperor Hadrian. The deer and crucifix appear as St. Eustace's emblem in the portrait at left and are the key element in this narrative image. They even appear on the rooftop of his church in Rome.
That church also has a large painting of St. Eustace's martyrdom, burned alive inside a brazen bull, as related in the Golden Legend.
Feast day: September 20 (suppressed in 1969)
At left, panel in Dürer's Paumgartner Altarpiece
Hagiography:
Menu