The Logic of Faith: Featured Saint of the Month, St. Hubert

By: Abigail Delic

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The worst thing about math is figuring out how to even approach a problem. Staring at a blank test, not knowing where to begin or how to comprehend the words and numbers starting back at you. It is easy to wonder whether St Hubert, patron of mathematicians, faced a similar trial. In his life, St. Hubert was remembered as a hunter, and was later co-opted by medieval scholars as the patron of math, due to his historical fame as a saint. But before he was a saint, Hubert of Liege was simply a hunter, the son of a noble. He had everything, including a wife whom he loved and who was taken from him in childbirth. Hubert had done nothing to deserve it yet his wife still died. He threw himself into hunting as a way to cope, until Good Friday, when God called him to turn completely from his old life and follow the priesthood. 

He had every reason to refuse, to question - but he didn’t. He was told to become a bishop, he did not refuse. He was told to defend the forests - he did not refuse. He never overthought it. Today we are so overwhelmed - which devotion to pray, what sins to avoid. Your relationship with God should feel natural - as going home to Him is what you are made for. It's as simple as one plus one.

As long as you live there will be problems, and they may not all have solutions. But we cannot allow ourselves to get caught up in what we cannot control. We simply need to figure out the next right step. Easier said than done of course, but remember that even in the darkness, we can still find our way with the light of the stars above. God is always here for us - we just need to change and accept new perspectives.

St Hubert, patron of ethical hunters, mathematicians and problem solvers - pray for us