Saint Guinefort () was a legendary 13th-century French

greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...

that received local veneration as a

folk saint Folk saints are dead people or other spiritually powerful entities (such as indigenous spirits) venerated as saints, but not officially canonized. Since they are saints of the "folk", or the ''populus'', they are also called popular saints. Like o ...

Legend

Guinefort's story is a variation on the well-travelled "faithful hound" motif, similar to the Welsh story of the dog

Gelert Gelert () is a legendary wolfhound associated with the village of Beddgelert (whose name means "Gelert's Grave") in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. In the legend, Llywelyn the Great returns from hunting to find his baby missing, the cradle overturne ...

, or the Indian story of

the Brahmin and the Mongoose ''The Brahmin and the Mongoose'' (or ''The Brahmin's Wife and the Mongoose'') is a folktale from India, and "one of the world's most travelled tales".Blackburn, p. 494 It describes the rash killing of a loyal animal, and thus warns against hasty a ...

. In one of the earliest versions of the story, described by Dominican friar

Stephen of Bourbon Stephen of Bourbon (French: ''Étienne de Bourbon''; Latin: ''Stephanus de Borbone''; 1180 – 1261) was a preacher of the Dominican Order, author of the largest collection of preaching ''exempla'' of the thirteenth century, a historian of medieva ...

in 1250, Guinefort the

belonged to a knight who lived in a castle near

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

. One day, the knight went hunting, leaving his infant son in the care of Guinefort. When he returned, he found the nursery in chaos – the cradle overturned, the child nowhere to be seen and Guinefort greeted his master with bloody jaws. Believing Guinefort to have devoured his son, the knight slew the dog. He then heard a child crying; he turned over the cradle and found his son lying there, safe and sound, along with the body of a viper bloody from dog bites. Guinefort had killed the snake and saved the child. On realizing the mistake the family dropped the dog down a well, covered it with stones and planted trees around it, setting up a

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...

for Guinefort. Upon learning of the dog's martyrdom, the locals venerated the dog as a saint and visited his shrine of trees when they were in need, especially mothers with sick children. :The local peasants hearing of the dog's noble deed and innocent death, began to visit the place and honor the dog as a martyr in quest of help for their sicknesses and other needs. ::Stephen of Bourbon (d. 1262): ''De Supersticione: On St. Guinefort''. The custom was regarded as harmful and superstitious by the church, which made efforts to eradicate it. As

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

churches emerged in the 16th century, they "criticized the cult of Guinefort seeing in it an example of the abuses and errors of the Catholic Church." The

Catholic hierarchy The hierarchy of the Catholic Church consists of its bishops, priests, and deacons. In the ecclesiological sense of the term, "hierarchy" strictly means the "holy ordering" of the Church, the Body of Christ, so to respect the diversity of gift ...

adopted the critique, and sought to suppress Guinefort belief and practices, and ostracize practitioners. A fine for the practice was implemented. "Despite this early attempt to ridicule and dismiss the cult of Saint Guinefort, the local tradition continued." The cult of this dog saint persisted for several centuries, despite the repeated prohibitions of the Catholic Church. Community memory of the practices was still present in the 1970s, with the last known visit by someone to Saint Guinefort Wood to effect a cure for a sick child occurring around the 1940s.

In popular culture

The 1987 French film ''Le Moine et la sorcière'' (in the US known as ''The Sorceress'') is a fictionalized story based on Stephen of Bourbon’s original text regarding Saint Guinefort and the local people. Thomas of Hookton, the main character in

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written ''The Saxon ...

's ''

The Grail Quest ''The Grail Quest'' is a historical fiction novel series written by Bernard Cornwell dealing with a 14th-century search for the Holy Grail, around the time of the Hundred Years' War. The stories follow the adventures of the fictional Thomas o ...

'' trilogy (2000–2003), is a mock believer in Saint Guinefort, praying to the saint and wearing a paw on a piece of leather around his neck. In Adam Gidwitz's 2017 young adult novel

The Inquisitor's Tale ''The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog'' is a young adult novel written by Adam Gidwitz and illuminated ( in the medieval sense) by Hatem Aly, published by Dutton Children's Books in 2016. It is set in mediev ...

, the main characters' pet greyhound Gwenforte bears a strong resemblance to Saint Guinefort, especially in the manner of his death and resurrection early in the novel.

References

Notes

Citations

External links

* (the source text for the story)
The Greyhound Saint
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guinefort Folk saints French folklore Individual dogs Medieval individual animals Medieval legends Medieval Lyon Individual animals in France Dogs in France 13th century in France Dogs in religion Animals in Christianity