It is no surprise that the most popular patron saints for medieval chapels associated with forests included those whose legends connected them precisely with the forest and/or hunting.
Most prominent are Leonard, who was said to have helped Clovis' wife give birth during a hunt in the forest, and Giles, who reportedly protected a wounded hind from the huntsmen of the Visigothic king Wamba, despite being wounded himself.
Other forest saints are Hubert, Eustace, and Procopius - linked by the season of their feasts and the iconography of a stag bearing the cross between its antlers. These and other themes are explored in Graham Jones, Saints in the Landscape (Tempus, 2007).
The ending on Holy Cross Day, September 14, of stag and hart hunting and the start of hunting hind and doe, gives added meaning to the images of cross-bearing stags. It also draws attention inter alia to the dedication of the hunting lodge of the Scottish kings at Holyrood, whose approach from Edinburgh Castle is via the church of St Giles.
Forest Saints
Leonard prays outside his forest hermitage near the town of Noblat (19th c. French painting on fabric, private collection)
Churches, chapels and hospitals of Leonard (red) and Giles (green) emphasising their non-random spatial distribution - a characteristic shared with dedications of Leonard on the Continent. In Austria and south-east Germany, Leonard was the most popular saint for invocation against cattle disease.
