# St. Hubert’s key

**Clef de saint Hubert**

**Known today as.** A small iron in the shape of a key or horn, blessed at the shrine of St. Hubert, patron of hunters, in the Ardennes.

Kind: Sacramental

## What was it used for?

Heated red-hot and pressed to the wounds of those bitten by mad dogs, and to the heads of animals, against rabies.

## What does modern science say?

Rabies vaccine, from 1885, ended the practice.

## What lore surrounds it?

At the abbey of Saint-Hubert, pilgrims received “the stole”: a thread said to come from the saint’s stole was set in a small cut in the forehead, with a regime of prayer and fasting.

## What did the older authorities say?

**The Catholic Encyclopedia.** The Catholic Encyclopedia tells of the stag on Good Friday with “a crucifix between its antlers” and the voice, “Hubert, unless thou turnest to the Lord, and leadest an holy life, thou shalt quickly go down into hell,” and says he “was honored in the Middle Ages as the patron of huntsmen, and the healer of hydrophobia (rabies).” The Ritual contains “a long blessing of the ‘water of St. Hubert’ against the bite of a mad dog,” and Cologne has “a blessing of bread, water, and salt given under the invocation of St. Hubert.”

## Sources

- *The Catholic Encyclopedia* (New York, 1907–1914), “Hubert, Saint.” newadvent.org/cathen/07507a.htm
- *The Catholic Encyclopedia* (New York, 1907–1914), “Water, Liturgical Use of.” newadvent.org/cathen/15564a.htm
- *The Catholic Encyclopedia* (New York, 1907–1914), “Bread, Liturgical Use of.” newadvent.org/cathen/02749a.htm

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*St. Hubert’s key.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/st-hubert-key

Historical description, not medical advice.