Saint Julian the Hospitaller
![[illustration of Saint Julian]](saintj31.jpg "34kb jpg illuminated capital of Christ, Saint Martha, and Saint Julian the Hospitaller in a small boat")
- Also known as
- Julian the Poor
- Memorial
- 12 February
- Profile
- Noble layman; friend and counselor to the king, he was married to a wealthy widow.
A stag he was hunting predicted he would kill his own parents.
Julian moved far away to avoid his parents, but they found him, and came to make a surprise visit.
His wife gave them her and Julian's bed; Julian killed them, thinking they were his wife and another man.
As penance, he and his wife travelled to Rome as pilgrims seeking absolution.
On his way home, to continue his penance, he built a hospice beside a river, cared for the poor and sick, and rowed travellers across the river for free.
Once, after having helped many, many travellers, Julian gave his own bed to a pilgrim leper who had nearly frozen to death.
When they had him safely settled, the man suddenly revealed himself to be an angel.
The visitor announced that Christ had accepted Julian's penance; the angel then disappeared.
Immensely popular in times past; scholars today think the story is likely to be pious fiction, mistaken for history.
- Patronage
-
boatmen;
carnival workers;
childless people;
circus workers;
clowns;
ferrymen;
fiddlers;
fiddle players;
hospitality;
hotel-keepers;
innkeepers;
jugglers;
knights;
murderers;
pilgrims;
San Giljan, Malta;
shepherds;
to obtain lodging while travelling;
travellers;
wandering musicians
- Representation
-
carrying a leper through a river;
ferryman;
hart;
holding an oar;
man listening to a talking stag;
oar;
stag;
with Jesus and Saint Martha as patrons of travellers;
young hunter with a stag;
young man killing his parents in bed;
young man wearing a fur-lined cloak, sword, and gloves;
young, well-dressed man holding a hawk on his finger
- Additional Information
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Google Directory
Olga's Gallery
Catholic Online
Catholic Online
Life of Saint Julian the Hospitaller, translated by Tony Devaney Morinelli
For All The Saints
- Print References
-
Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints
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