September 20th
At birth, Saint Eustachius (or Eustance, as he is also known) was named Plakidas. He became a general under the Roman emperor Trajan. While hunting a stag (male deer) one day, he had a vision of the cross of Christ. The stag said to him: “I am Jesus Christ. You are hunting me, but I am also hunting you.” This led to Plakidas’s conversion to the Christian faith. He was baptized with the name Eustachius, which means “steadfast.” Upon becoming Christian, his home and his wealth were taken from him. He and his family (his wife and two sons) emigrated to Egypt. However, they could not pay for their passage by ship, so the captain held the wife of Eustachius for himself. Eustachius and his sons escaped by swimming. Later, wild animals took the two sons! Eustachius believed them dead, but in reality, they were saved.
Many years later, Trajan called Eustachius back to Rome to fight the barbarians. Eustachius again commanded an army as a general. Among the soldiers, unknown to Eustachius, were his two sons. After the battle, when the barbarians were defeated, Eustachius and his staff stayed at the house of an old woman. The two sons recognized each other, and the old woman turned out to be their mother! She had escaped from the ship’s captain before anything terrible happened to her! And so the entire family was reunited. Trajan was succeeded by a new emperor, Hadrian. The new emperor asked Eustachius to sacrifice to the gods. When Eustachius refused, he and his entire family were thrown to the lions. However, the lions simply lied down at their feet. Hadrian then ordered the family to be executed. Their bodies were recovered by the Christian community and buried.
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