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our patron saint
Scholars of hagiography generally agree that what is known about St Julian the Hospitaller is almost entirely legendary. According to some, he was born in Le Mans, France; others maintain that his birthplace was Ath, in Belgium, around the mid-seventh century A.D.; still others claimed he came from Naples.
The most famous element of his story is that he killed his parents - a tradition so well known in Malta that it survives in the proverb: “St Julian killed his parents, and yet became a saint.” According to legend, this act was committed in error; once he realized what he had done, he set out for Rome to obtain forgiveness. It is further said that, in expiation, he built a hospital for pilgrims either on the banks of the River Gardon in Provence, or perhaps in the district of Isola near the River Potenza, close to Macerata.
The legend of St Julian most likely originated in the Middle Ages, in either France or Belgium, and it quickly captured the popular imagination of medieval Europeans. Like the Archangel Raphael and St Christopher, he came to be venerated as a patron of travelers, and also as the patron of innkeepers and of the cities of Ghent and Macerata. In Boccaccio’s Decameron (1353), the first great literary masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance (Day XI, Tale XI), the so-called “Paternoster of St Julian” already appears; a prayer that is still transmitted orally in many parts of Italy today. The legend also gave rise to much popular verse within the tradition of the Legenda Aurea, by the Genoese Dominican hagiographer Jacobus de Voragine.
The main points of the legend are gathered in a popular orazione of epic eleven-syllable verses. This was spread throughout Italy, from Romagna to Calabria. The same orazione is also preserved in our National Library, in Valletta, and, according to the authoritative palaeographer Dom Mauro Inguanez, it dates back to the fifteenth century. In 1902, it appeared for the first time in Maltese, in prose form, under the title The Hunter and the Stag – A Flemish Tale, within the series Books of the Passing of Time.
The legend also inspired great works of art. In the thirteenth century, we find a splendid stained-glass window depicting St Julian, by an unknown artist, in Chartres Cathedral. In the fourteenth century, imposing frescoes representing the saint were painted in Trento Cathedral, and in the following century frescoes of him were executed in the Palazzo Comunale of Assisi.
The legend tells that on the night of St Julian’s birth, his father, who came from a noble family, saw pagan sorcerers secretly casting a spell on his son, foretelling that he would one day kill his own mother and father. His father wanted to get rid of the child, but his mother would not allow it. The boy grew, and “he was so beautiful that his mother and father were enchanted by him,” yet every time his mother looked at him she would burst into tears, saying: “My son, it would have been better had you never been born, for one day you will commit a great sin.”
When Julian was about ten years old, he asked his mother why she always wept whenever she looked at him. She told him of the destiny from which he could never escape. But Julian, “who was good and courageous,” replied: “Never shall I commit such a sin,” and, “with strong trust in Christ who can do all things, he set out on the road, full of courage.” The legend relates that he walked for fifty days and went to live in Galicia, where he married a woman “of the noblest kind.”
Twenty years passed after Julian had left home, and his father and mother longed deeply to see their son again, now a man of thirty. They had no other children but him, and so they decided to go and seek him out. When they arrived in Galicia, they entered to pray before the splendid altar of St James. “As they came out of the church, they met a woman seated on a chair, and the pilgrims approached her and greeted her. The woman returned their greeting. They asked her whether, for the love of Christ, she might receive them in her home that evening, if they could find shelter with her, for they were weary from their journey.”
The woman welcomed them into her house and told them that her husband, Julian, was at that moment away hunting. (For this reason, St Julian is also known as the patron saint of hunters.) The mother and father rejoiced greatly, for they had at last found their son; and Julian’s wife too rejoiced at meeting the parents of her husband. “She cared for them lovingly, and then she brought them to rest in Julian’s bed.”
But then “the Enemy” went in search of Julian and said to him: “I bring you evil news. You are here hunting, but your wife lies in bed, embraced by her lover. There they are, entwined together, and now, both of them are asleep.”
Let the words of the legend speak for themselves:
“And Julian felt great anguish and his face was transformed. He mounted his horse without saying a word, and swiftly arrived at his house. He went to the bed in great agitation and there he saw a man and a woman. In his bed they were lying asleep. He seized his sword and with it he pierced them. And Julian wished to leave, and in that land he no longer wanted to remain. He put his hand to open the door and saw his wife sitting with the other women. To Julian she spoke: ‘Your father and your mother came here, and they are lying in your bed.’
Then Julian began to beat his breast; he tore his clothes and his flesh. ‘The cunning Enemy has deceived me when he told me that my wife was betraying me.’ And there lay the dead, stretched upon the bed. He kissed all their wounds and said: ‘Alas, wretched me! Better had I never been born, for in soul and body I am accursed.’ And his good wife began to speak to Julian and said: ‘Trust in Christ, who can do all things, who is the living fountain of all mercy.’ They had neither son nor daughter. They had gold and silver in abundance… And Julian built seven hospitals and twenty-five hostels, above all else. And the poor began to dwell there, for the love of Jesus Christ who can do all things.”
Many know that St Julian killed his father and mother, but perhaps few know that he did so in error, and fewer still know of his conversion and of the good he did for the poor and the sick.
But the legend does not end there.
“The deceitful enemy began to plot how he might repay him without delay. Taking the form of a ragged pilgrim, Julian let him enter and lodge with the others. At midnight that deceiver arose. The feathers of the mattress he scattered with the straw… the whole house he overturned.” When Julian awoke the following morning, he saw the destruction that had been wrought in his house, and he swore that he would never again receive anyone. In his anger, he drove everyone out. “And Jesus came to him, in the form of a pilgrim, and spoke to him, asking to be allowed to rest in his house. Humbly he begged him, for God’s sake, that Julian would receive him that night.”
But Julian answered him with disdain: “I will not receive you in my house. Be gone, for last night they caused me such great harm that I will in no way let you in.” And Christ, with gentleness, said to him: “Keep this staff for me, I beg you.” And Julian was overcome with shame, and with all his heart went to take the staff. But as soon as he put his hands on it, the staff clung fast to him. And Julian recognized at once, without doubt, it was Jesus Christ, the one he loved. Then Julian said: “The cunning Enemy has mocked me, for he does not want me to be your faithful servant. But I will embrace you, and I care nothing for him; and for love of you I will give shelter to whoever is in need.”
At the feet of Christ he threw himself to his knees, and Jesus Christ forgave him. And Julian, with a penitent heart, prayed to Christ: “Consider not only that I am a sinner, O Christ, but forgive me and my wife.” And the merciful Christ forgave them. “And forgive my mother and my father.” He sanctified the father and mother through all the good that Julian accomplished.
Although the story of St Julian is a legend from beginning to end, we cannot deny that devotion to him is very ancient and widespread. We should also note that a legend is not a fable, but a traditional story - a blending of history and imagination. The Medieval Latin word legenda means “things to be read.” The lives of the saints, which were read aloud in the early liturgies of the Church, were also called legends.
The devotion to St Julian seems to have entered the Maltese Islands in the fifteenth century, after his relics were discovered in the city of Macerata in 1442. Since the Bishop de Astis of Macerata had ties with the noble De Astis family, who were prominent in Malta, it appears that it was they who introduced this devotion. Before the arrival of the Knights, there were three churches in Malta dedicated to this saint: at Tabija near Mdina, at Luqa, and at Senglea. The Senglea church is the most interesting, for it was connected to a hunting reserve, a fitting characteristic for this saint. The church at Senglea helped foster devotion to St Julian among the sailors around the Grand Harbour, as shown by the fact that vessels captained from Birgu bore his name in the sixteenth century. Another typical feature of the saint’s cult was its link with hospitals and houses of hospitality.
In the sixteenth century, there was a hospital in the Citadel of Gozo known as the Ospedale di San Giuliano. When the Knights of St John arrived, being themselves a Hospitaller Order, they greatly spread devotion to St Julian the Hospitaller.
In 1539, the church of Senglea was rebuilt, and in 1590 the church of St Julian in the parish of Birkirkara was likewise rebuilt, in the area which by the end of the sixteenth century began to be called San Ġiljan precisely because of the church dedicated to him. In 1891, this church was elevated to the status of parish - the first and only one in Malta dedicated to St Julian the Hospitaller.
Before the reform of the liturgical calendar of saints, the liturgical commemoration of St Julian was observed on the 27th of January. Today it is held on the 12th of February, although in the Maltese town of St Julian’s it continues to be celebrated on the 27th of January.
This information was compiled by Robert Aloisio in Maltese and translated to English.
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